There’s a little pocket of jazz being built up in one corner of Bangalore. Every so often, three or four musicians get together at a Sarjapur Road jam room to recreate jazz standards, as well as create new ones.
That’s Infusion Jazz, a year-old band that’s slowly making its presence felt in the city.
Much of their repertoire comprises jazz standards with their own spin (Infusion's version of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Cantaloupe Island’ has, besides the obligatory solos, a lead violin part slapped on). But they’re also slowly building up a collection of solo pieces, said Sandeep Mukherjee, who helped set up the band and plays electric bass.
A large part of these compositions is typically structured around the keyboard stylings of 23-year-old Frijo Francis, who has been playing piano for 12 years and is a music teacher at the Ebenezer International School.
Victor Francis is a veteran city-based jazz drummer who also teaches at the same school; Dominic Yesudas, who plays the acoustic upright bass – an instrument not often seen in live ensembles in the city – studied at the Bangalore School of Music.
It started when
Sandeep heard the keyboardist play at a gig, and got in touch with drummer Victor, who he knew from his earlier days playing in Bangalore. The band came together in 2011, and has played at a number of local venues such as Take 5 and CounterCulture as well as Mumbai’s Blue Frog and venues in Goa.
The name comes from
The band’s ‘process’ - of incorporating, infusing new material into their music. “It’s all with the intent of stretching the boundaries of the musical language”.
Sounds they like
Include bass great Jaco Pastorious, jazz-fusion in the style of the Return To Forever group, and the saxophonist Stan Getz, to name a few.
Infusion Jazz are
Frijo Francis (piano), Victor Francis (drums), Dominic Yesudas (acoustic bass), Sandeep Mukherjee (electric bass)
Visit Infusion Jazz on Facebook.
(Bandstand, profiling Bangalore bands, appears on Mondays.)
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