INDO-JAZZ:
NEHITA ABRAHAM
HOW JAZZ CAME TO INDIA
“ It could only have happened in London: a Jamaican
saxophonist (Joe Harriott), an Indian violin player
(John Mayer), and a double quartet uniting jazz
(trumpet, piano, bass, drums) and Hindustani classical
instruments (flute, sitar, tambura, tabla). “
“The result is an awkward, fascinating and often beautiful
conversation between cool-school jazz and Indian music,
one that would lay the foundations for hundreds of
similar experiments from the likes of John McLaughlin,
Alice Coltrane, Nitin Sawhney, and Courtney Pine. “
-John Lewis, The Guardian
Welcome to Indo-Jazz of the 1960s! John Mayer, an Indian
born violinist, and composer always had the vision
to combine his love for classical music with western
instruments. He grew up in Calcutta studying Indian
music under Sanathan Mukherjee whilst simultaneously
learning Western music with Melhi Mehta.
How Jazz Came To India
But how did an Indian get to travel and interact with musicians
from all over the world in Calcutta? In the early 1920s jazz
struck a chord with rising metropolis like Calcutta and
Bombay. Jazz musicians like Roy Butler, Teddy Weatherford
(who recorded with Louis Armstrong), Leon Abbey, Crickett
Smith, Creighton Thompson, Ken Mac, and Rudy Jackson
toured India to run away from the racial discrimination
they faced in the United States. Major cities in India with
ballrooms and nightclubs started to house jazz venues that
became the refuge of the European and Indian elite, and public
servants. From 5 star hotels like the Taj Mahal ballroom to
second level hotels, the booming jazz scene grew and grew!
Even if Jazz in India began as an entertainment for the rich
and the elite, it also made its way to the ears of the working
class and into Hindi films and rewrote Bollywood music.
Indo-Jazz expanded globally. In 1998, a tabla percussionist,
Broto Roy composed and recorded his brand of "Raga-
Jazz" . His debut album “American Raga” was taken
to be played on the International Space Station.
Was Indo-Jazz Fusion Natural?
The 1940s in India saw the development of a new genre
of music called Indo-Jazz. It had elements consisting of
jazz, classical and Indian influences. Ravi Shankar, John
McLaughlin, John Coltrane, and John Mayer, pioneered this
unbelievably beautiful fusion of jazz and Indian music.
John Mayer, for example, believed that it starts with
equal knowledge in learning both styles of music. By
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Score Magazine
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doing so, he was able to compare differences and discover
similarities. One of the similarities being they both involve
improvisation, however, there are many differences.
"Indian music is built around a linear technique, there's
no harmony in the Western sense, just one extended
melodic line accompanied by a drone” said Mayer. A lack of
harmony is compensated for with very complex rhythms.
”As I found out more about Western music, I realized that
there are similarities with the techniques of serialism.
In serialism, you are dealing with an atonal sequence,
and in ragas, the Indian scale system, you are dealing
with a tonal sequence, but one which goes up one way
and down another, what's called the aroha-avaroha.”
With the scores he composed, he was a groundbreaking
and his band Indo-Jazz Fusions probably gave birth to the
term “world fusion”. Joe Harriott was another important
influence of this fusion. Known little outside of the
British jazz scene, Harriott become popular for pursuing
Charlie Parker's legacy into freer terrain. The pair created
records where sitars and tablas were de rigueur hippie
accouterments, the set had an appealing pop sensibility and
complete integration of jazz as well. A time capsule, Indo-
Jazz music still remains fresh, engaging, and original.