Gig review/ Vasundhara Vee

 

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Vasundhara Vee Sings Jazz

Event: Jazz@Prithvi

Genre: Jazz

Details: Prithvi Theatre, April 23

Rating: ****

Over the past few months, Jazz@Prithvi has become a much-awaited event for Mumbai's jazz aficionados. Presented by maestro Louiz Banks and curated by his son Gino, it features original compositions or fresh takes of standards by Indian artistes.

While the first show was an evening affair at the Prithvi Theatre Festival last year, it has occupied a monthly 11 a.m. pre-lunch slot on the month's fourth Sunday since January. Performances by The Act, MaMoGi and Sanjay Divecha focused on modern compositions.

This Sunday, we heard vocal jazz by Vasundhara Vee, who focused on interpretations of standards and other popular fare. Singing without microphones in the venue's natural acoustic setting, she displayed a vast range and perfect command over technique.

Vasundhara was accompanied by a tight band, comprising guitarist Srinjay Banerjee, bassist Saurabh Suman and drummer Pranoy Praveen. A good chunk of the repertoire consisted of vocalese, a format where lyrics are written to what were originally instrumental compositions. The singer thus presented Joni Mitchell's lyrical version of the Charles Mingus tune 'The Drycleaner From Des Moines', besides vocalese versions of 'Beautiful Love', based on an instrumental recorded by Louiz Banks, and Wayne Shorter's 'The Beauty And The Beast'.

The classic fare included Nat King Cole's 'Orange Coloured Sky' and Peggy Lee's 'I Love Being With You'. A specific highlight was Billie Holiday's 'God Bless The Child', on which Vasundhara displayed raw emotion and perfect pitch control. And there was a jazz-inflected version of Sting's 'Seven Days", which had a dash of humour and smart variations of the lines "But Sunday'd be too late".

The show concluded with Louis Armstrong's iconic 'What A Wonderful World', where Vasundhara invited the crowd to sing along. However, the audience chant was heard only from pockets of the hall - those who weren't sure of the lyrics could have used their Smartphone Google skills, with phones on silent, of course. The interaction perhaps didn't come across as planned.

One good thing about Vasundhara's performance style was the way she explained the songs, in terms of why they were chosen or their lyrical content. Such an approach enhances the listeners' involvement, and sets a context. She also had that right stage communication with the musicians when they played solos, positioned in three different corners, and with the audience when she sang her parts.

The show was an appropriate addition to the Jazz@Prithvi series, which is sure to showcase a lot of other talented musicians in future. There's more jazz lined up in Mumbai this month, with the International Jazz Day show curated by Louiz Banks at NCPA on April 30, another Jazz Day event curated by Adil Manuel at AntiSocial on April 29, and the World Jazz Festival presented by Banyan Tree at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Bandra, on April 29 and 30. There's also the Bandra Jazz Festival organised by Revolver Club at Veranda this weekend, featuring talks, vinyl sessions and performances. This is besides the regular gigs at BlueBop Cafe (French band Miss Kiss is slotted for April 29) and Bonobo. For the knowledge-seekers, jazz aficionado Sunil Sampat is conducting a listening session on the bebop style at the NCPA on April 26. We're in for a jazzle-dazzle time.