Unusual jazz trio
The Prestige Srihari Khoday Centre for Performing Arts had an unusual trio of internationally known musicians performing at an ItalianIndo evening of contemporary jazz titled ‘India Jazz Up’ recently. It was hosted by the Italian Consulate in Bengaluru.
The music was elegant in its rendition and original in its composition. Conventionally speaking, contemporary jazz may not sit easy with the lay music lover, but the music by Paolo Fresu on the trumpet, Rita Marcotulli on the piano and Trilok Gurtu on a wideranging ensemble of unusual percussion instruments was unique.
Their jazz had tones of World music, with notes of Soul, Rock, even African beats, at times overtly Indian with Trilok on the ta
bla or other instruments. All of these were amalgamated into modern Jazz.
Paolo’s ‘O que tinha de ser’, might remind you of a lost love, with its tones of Blues and Soul, and yet its jazz is unmistakeable. Indeed, his ability on both the trumpet and the flugelhorn (he switches sometimes in the middle of a piece) was remarkable.
Infusing new styles
At one point, the drumming by Trilok with Rita Marcotulli’s and Paolo’s long repartees felt like listening to ‘shayaris’ that were longer than the usual Urdu couplets.
Trilok sat on a cajon, a stoollike percussion instrument, which a musician sits on and taps with his hands.
For his composition ‘Water Song’, Trilok used, amongst a host of hybridised percussion items, an aluminium bucket with water into which he immersed what seemed, to me, like a steel frying pan being struck with a cymbal (Zildjian). Trilok’s percussion repertoire combines western drums, Indian ta
bla, African djembe and sometimes congas.
“All three musicians took just one day to practice and tune the instruments that were sourced by Prestige Srihari Centre 10 days prior to the show,” said Manoj Singh, VP of the Centre.
Trilok Gurtu is the son of thumri exponent Shobha Gurtu. Unable to find appreciation in his unconventional percussion beats, Trilok moved to Europe, collaborating with legendary artistes from the
West such as John McLaughlin. Rita fell in love with the piano when her mother introduced her to it at the age of five. She was drawn to jazz when she heard pianist Thelonius Monk. Rita has composed and performed with wellknown jazz musicians such as Chet Baker and Richard Galliano.
Both Rita Marcotulli and Paolo Fresu have known each other for long, but began to perform together recently. Professor of music and director of various international cultural institutions, Paolo, winner of several awards, has been playing the trumpet since the age of 11. He has performed worldwide with the most important names in AfroAmerican music for 30 years, and has made over 350 recordings in jazz, ethnic, contemporary and ancient music.
As the Italian Consul General in Bengaluru Alfonso Tagliaferri summed up, “Music is the easiest way to form cultural links”.