At a time when jazz music is finding its way into popular music, there has been a surge in festivals celebrating the form.
One such attempt is Giants of Jazz which is going on at New Delhi’s Piano Jazz Man Club in Hauz Khas. The wooden flooring and wooden chairs add to the retro vibes while listening to jazz music at the ongoing ten-day festival The staircase takes you to the sitting area with a simple décor near the stage where one can enjoy the performance along with some delicious food.
On Saturday night, the Global Music Institute’s international faculty performed their compositions and few arrangements as part of the festival which is featuring artists from different parts of the world. The crowd-pleasing style with magnetic stage presence and willingness to improvise, kept the audience engaged throughout the performance. “There is a lot of improvisation in the ethos of jazz and that can be something that the youth can identify with,” said Tarun Balani, one of the performers in the band, known for his collaboration with vocalist Chayan Adhikari in Time Machine project.
The division between putative ‘classicists’ who want to maintain jazz as a pure form and ‘experimentalists’ who are incorporating elements from other forms, is well known. But rarely do we see any new artist denying influence from this age-old form. “Electronic music is easier. You just need to have a laptop and software. But to improvise, you need to have a deeper understanding of music,” avers Balani. Jazz emanated from the African-American community of artists as an antidote when racism was on the rise. It included verse which questioned divisive politics but it always remained a music that can be both termed both populist and experimental. “In its essence, it was protest music but if the students are introduced to it not as a pre-dated art form but as a contemporary option, I think, it can attract more young people to it,” comments Balani, underlining the relevance of jazz in the contemporary music scene.
Brazilian singer and songwriter Luiza Sales, who joined the band with her own musical traditions from Brazil, emphasised the universality of music which travels beyond geographical boundaries. “Jazz has a broad spectrum that can mean a lot of things. Improvisation and the freedom to create and experiment are part of it. The interesting thing about Brazilian music is its incorporation of influences from other styles and making it sound very original, connected to our culture. It has our identity but it also communicates with people internationally,” said Sales.
The festival which is celebrating both contemporary and classical jazz will have various other jazz bands including Felah Enkum, Lautaro Tissera, Kefaya and Lucia, who will have a performance every night. Cruise Control On (CCO3), a crossover project between jazz and classical music formed by three soloists will have arrangements on jazz standards and will perform their own original compositions influenced by classical, jazz, world and pop music on percussion will perform tonight at Lock & Key, Gurugram, the other venue of the festival, which runs till December 9.
