Gig review/ Transcendence 2.0 - jazz, fusion

By NARENDRA KUSNUR

Concert: Transcendence 2.0

Artistes: Louiz Banks, Mysore Manjunath, Yogesh Samsi, Gino Banks, Gianluca Liberatore, Bangalore Amrit
Genre: Jazz, Carnatic, fusion

Details: St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra, June 9

Rating: ****

It was a unique event, held as a tribute to two icons – Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and Carnatic violinist T. Chowdiah. On Saturday, June 9, the audience at the St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra, witnessed three diverse forms of music at the Transcendence 2.0 concert.

Renowned pianist-keyboardist Louiz Banks and his group played acoustic jazz, after which violinist Mysore Manjunath gave a Carnatic recital. Appropriately, the evening ended with fusion.

Banks, known to be a huge admirer of Peterson, was joined by his son Gino on drums and Gianluca Liberatore on upright bass, an instrument not heard often in Mumbai’s live circles these days. The trio set the tone with the George Gershwin classic ‘Summertime’, followed by another standard ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’, composed by Ray Henderson.

The set also included old beauties ‘When I Fall In Love’ and ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, before concluding with a Banks original ‘New Blues’. It was a brilliant performance, and though the sound jarred in the first few minutes, it settled down eventually. Banks and Gino played with a natural flow, and it was a pleasure to hear some of Liberatore’s double bass solos. However, one missed a Peterson original composition in the set list.

The Carnatic part, featuring violinist Manjunath, tabla maestro Yogesh Samsi and kanjira exponent Bangalore Amrit, began with a rendition of raag Purvi Kalyan, followed by a raagam tanam pallavi in Kaapi. A raagmala concluded the set, which was adorned by an exquisite violin build-up, remarkable tone and percussion runs.

The finale involved another Banks original ‘Reunion’, loosely based on raag Chandrakauns. Like most fusion encounters, it had some excellent interplay between jazz and Carnatic music. The climax was explosive. While Manjunath was outstanding in the pure Carnatic renditions, there were two occasions he played out of sequence in the fusion interaction. One huge gaffe was made by the compere, who described Manjunath’s set as a ‘great blend of Hindustani music’. Where was the homework?

This was the second part of the annual Transcendence series, and one looks forward to more. While Mumbai doesn’t have too many Carnatic events, one also doesn’t see much of old-school jazz. This turned out to be a perfect platform for those looking forward to rich music.