Gig Stream/ Two evenings of jazz

By Narendra Kusnur

Show 1: Jazz Goes To Broadway
Artiste: Rajeev Raja and Band
Genre: Jazz
Details: Tata Theatre, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Old concert streaming
Rating: ****

Show 2: World Jazz Festival
Artiste: Koh Mr Saxman and Takeshi Band
Genre: Jazz
Details: St Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbai. Old concert streaming
Rating: *** 1/2

With live concert events nowhere in sight, one is spending the lockdown appreciating performances given from home or watching recordings of older auditorium shows. For jazz aficionados, the past weekend provided a treat as two concerts were shown.

On Saturday evening, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) streamed the show Jazz Goes To Broadway, led by flautist Rajeev Raja (in picture) at the Tata Theatre, Nariman Point, in May last year. The concert will be available on the NCPA YouTube page till this Friday. Then, on Sunday, Banyan Tree aired the concert of Thailand’s Koh Mr Saxman and The Takeshi Group, which performed at the World Jazz Festival at Bandra’s St Andrew's Auditorium in January. Repeats are appearing on the event organiser’s page.

Both shows were enjoyable, though the Bandra show was edited to exclude some songs by the vocalist Pui Duangpon, including a jazz take of the ‘Aashiqui 2’ song ‘Tum Hi Ho’, a Thai folk tune and a version of the standard ‘Cheek To Cheek’, besides a couple of originals featuring saxophonist Koh.

Raja’s NCPA concert was themed around tunes from Broadway and West End musicals. The idea was to take popular tunes and ‘jazzify’ them so that lay listeners would also identify with them. Appropriately, it began with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ title track, and the coordination of the musicians was excellent.

The band comprised Rahul Wadhwani on keyboards, Adil Manuel on guitar, Karl Peters on bass, Bosco Monsorate on trumpet, Nakul Mehta and Jarryd Rodriguez on saxophone, and Aron Nyiro on drums.
Other highlights included ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’ from ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ from ‘Fiddler On The Roof’. The rendition of George Gershwin's ‘Summertime’ was marvellous, with instruments taking turns in solos. A Beatles tribute focusing on ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ proved to be the perfect climax, with Raja excelling on flute.

In contrast to the NCPA relay which lasted an hour, the St Andrew's show was cut down to 27 minutes and three songs, when it actually was thrice as long. While Koh was fantastic on his take on ‘Gulabi Ankhen’ from ‘The Train’? and his duet with Dutch saxophonist Alexander Beets, a couple of more numbers would have helped. Despite that flaw, it provided good respite for the jazz buffs.