In 2014, then 18-year-old metal drummer Aditya Dutta couldn\u2019t stop himself from swaying to the sounds of Soul and Jazz icon Stevie Wonder, introduced to him by a friend.
This chance meeting with the legendary musician did \u2018wonders\u2019 for Dutta as nine years since, the hardcore metalhead has changed the course of his musical journey and now devotes the entirety of his time improving his understanding of Jazz.
\u201cThat was the first time I explored the charm of this music. We didn\u2019t understand how the music operated, but we anyway put in a lot of effort and got it done. And ever since then I\u2019ve been exploring this,\u201d Dutta told PTI on the eve of the International Jazz Day on Sunday.
The drummer is among the young musicians who have taken up the African-American genre, improvising it on the go, and are turning many an evening soulful with their performances.
The genre that originated in the African-American communities has always been received well by Indian audiences, even when they didn\u2019t recognise it as Jazz, going as early as \u201cGore Gore O Banke Chhore\u201d in \u201cSamadhi\u201d (1950), \u201cMera Naam Chin Chin Chu\u201d in \u201cHowrah Bridge\u201d (1958) and \u201cEk Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si\u201d from \u201cChalti Ka Naam Gaadi\u201d (1958).
Some newer Hindi numbers such as \u201cKaisi Paheli Zindagani\u201d in \u201cParineeta\u201d (2005), \u201cDarling\u201d in \u201c7 Khoon Maaf\u201d and \u201cMuskaanein Jhooti Hain\u201d in \u201cTalaash\u201d (2012), have kept Jazz alive in cinema .
However, independent Jazz musicians believe it is in the last ten years that the genre has picked up pace around India with an increased number of young artistes, dedicated platforms, and intrigued audiences.
\u201cEver since the usage of the internet increased, people have started recognising it. Earlier, you had to have someone who is into this music to be introduced to it. Now you\u2019re just scrolling the reels, there will be a viral meme, but you\u2019ll have a jazz track in the background,\u201d Dutta said.
Arjun Sagar Gupta, Jazz musician and the founder of The Piano Man Jazz Club, adds the rise in number of venues has also had a \u201ccyclical effect\u201d on the popularity of the music.
The 38-year-old said that it was events like the famous \u2018Jazz Yatra\u2019, which first started in 1978 in Mumbai, that initially exposed people to the music, but now with more such events, the availability of internet and more venues, the wave has been catching up with the youth.
\u201cOver the last 10 odd years the number of shows has increased exponentially. There are so many other venues that have come up not just in Delhi, but across the country.
\u201cIt\u2019s a nice cyclical thing because there\u2019s more exposure to Jazz and more people listening, more musicians playing and so more shows are happening and then it goes round and round,\u201d the musician-cum-restaurateur said.
In Delhi, apart from The Piano Man Jazz Club, there are places like Depot48, Blues, and Home that organise Jazz gigs. Similar scenes unfold at Mumbai\u2019s Jazz and Blues, Bonobo, and The Bombay Jazz Club.
India\u2019s very own Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, has also welcomed some sweet sounding Jazz venues into its fold, including Windmills Craftworks and The Humming Tree, and a dedicated music space in The Blue Room.
International talents like Matteo Fraboni, Simon Thacker, and Alexander Beets performing at Jazz events, including \u2018Jazz India Circuit\u2019, \u2018Jazz Utsav\u2019, \u2018Jazz Weekender\u2019, and \u2018World Jazz Festival\u2019, have also played a role in making the music popular.
Naveen Kumar, a \u201cself-proclaimed\u201d music aficionado and software developer, forayed into Jazz as a listener a few years ago. In the days of the past, Jazz may have spelt dance to people, but to him, it is long evenings of tranquility.
\u201cI love the flow of Jazz. There is no wrong form of Jazz. There are times when I cannot work without Miles Davis or Ella Fitzgerald or the good old John Coltrane in the background,\u201d the 30-year-old confessed, adding that the stillness of virtuoso trumpeter Louis Armstrong \u201cdrowns him in a trance-like state\u201d.
Another Jazz lover, Pallavi Sharma, a 20-something postgraduate student from Delhi University, fell for the unpredictability of the genre.
\u201cMore the improvisation, the better it is\u2026And Jazz serves this idea perfectly for me. It is one of the most entertaining and engaging music genres. I love the fact that it is more of an instrumentalists\u2019 genre, which makes it unpredictable and fun,\u201d Sharma said.
First introduced to Jazz through the sound of Coltrane\u2019s saxophone, Sharma tilts more towards the instrumental side of it than vocal.
But, what is making young musicians take to a genre that was once considered \u201cimmoral\u201d, a symbol of rebellion, and even \u201cthe devil\u2019s music\u201d? For Dutta, the immense possibilities of improvisation and expression attracted him the most.
\u201cThere\u2019s more scope to express yourself and you\u2019re not bound by approaching things in a particular way. You\u2019re also able to articulate music the way you want. You\u2019re not losing on the fundamentals of timekeeping, but you are an equal part of the ensemble,\u201d the 27-year-old musician explained.
Starting at the age of four, Aditi Malhotra practised Hindustani Classical music before venturing into the world of Jazz, Black American music and Brazilian music at 17.
The Berklee College of Music graduate believes the challenges of Jazz also happen to be what gives a musician \u201ca lot of open creative space to explore and grow\u201d. She also finds a connection in Hindustani Classical and Jazz.
\u201cIt is limitless as you can keep studying and keep growing\u2026 A lot of jazz musicians have been influenced by Indian classical music. Both of them insist on improvisation, which is really important,\u201d the 25-year-old said.
There may still be some time before the young troop of Indian Jazz musicians takes over the world, but they sure have got their notes right. Or wrong, as Miles Davis said, \u201cThere are no wrong notes in jazz, only notes in the wrong places.\u201d (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2014, then 18-year-old metal drummer Aditya Dutta couldn\u2019t stop himself from swaying to the sounds of Soul and Jazz icon Stevie Wonder, introduced to him by a friend.This chance meeting with the legendary musician did \u2018wonders\u2019 for Dutta as nine years since, the hardcore metalhead has changed the course of his musical journey and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}