Gig review/ Jon Batiste

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

Jon Batiste/ Live in Mumbai

Genre: Multiple 

Organised by: BookMyShow 

Details: NMACC Grand Theatre, November 26

Rating: **** 1/2

What on earth did that grand piano drink before the show began at the NMACC Grand Theatre on Wednesday night? Over two hours, it sang like Freddie Mercury, danced like John Travolta, charmed like Robert Redford and sprinted like Usain Bolt. It played the blues, Beethoven, jazz, rock n' roll, soul, hip-hop, half the history of western music, switching from genre to genre like a slithering snake.

Clearly, American star Jon Batiste was in another cosmos, adding his trademark vocals and a magic spell on the melodica to that piano wizardry. This was pure music, and it needed no classification, no branding. What was remarkable was that for most part of the show, he was alone on stage, with sitar player Megha Rawoot joining towards the end. And despite a somewhat inconsistent second half, marred by adventurous experimenting, his show will go down memory lane for its sheer virtuosity.

To be sure, in terms of time management, the organisers BookMyShow were off the mark. The concert began a good half an hour late, and the interval stretched on like it would never end. Finishing at 11.10 on a weekday wasn't what most Mumbaikars would want, specially if food had taken over music in the hunger games. Yet they waited patiently, clapped along and hummed in off-key awe, only because of the constant surprises conjured up by Batiste.

The first half was impeccable. A delightful piano run ended with a stompy version of Beethoven's 'Fifth Symphony', that immortal "fate knocking at the door" passage repeatedly giving gooseflesh. Louis Armstrong marched in next, with his saints, as Batiste moved to singing. Then came an unexpected twist - 'Yeh Hai Bambai Meri Jaan' played on melodica. Much as jaws dropped across the auditorium, it wouldn't have been too hard for him to play that, as he'd definitely have mastered the original 'Clementine'. Then 'You Are My Sunshine' made the crowd happy. 

"I love paying tribute to the old masters, whose work I study and who will make me a student all my life," Batiste said before playing Thelonious Monk's 'Blue Monk' and Duke Ellington's 'Caravan'. The vocals came back as he rendered his own 'I Need You' to bring in the break.

The second half began with 'Lonely Avenue', popularised by Ray Charles. The singing and piano were fabulous, and Batiste even sat and swaggered in a Ray posture. But what was a harmonium doing there, when it ran out of air for not being pumped? The switch to Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' was smooth, but the transition to an electronica flavour just seemed out of place. The audience shook their hips to that. After all, they had to get back 100 per cent value for the whopping sums they spent on tickets, even if they hadn't earlier heard the next number 'Lean On My Love', one of Batiste's popular songs.

Before the break, the musician had talked of inviting a guest collaborator. One shuddered at the thought of his calling over some Bollywood badshah, Divine comedy or singer with Royal connections. Luckily, the guest came in the form of sitar player Megha Rawoot, as they combined on Beethoven's 'Fur Elise'. 

A disciple of Purbayan Chatterjee, Megha has played on the song 'Heaven' in Ed Sheeran's new album Play. This was obviously a great moment for her, and her presentation was controlled and subtle, avoiding all the fast and gimmicky passages one often hears in collaborations  The two combined beautifully on Batiste's hit song 'Butterfly'. The words "Butterfly all alone, but can you fly on your own? Take your place in the world today, Butterfly fly home" joined a healing combination of piano and sitar.

The two-part encore concluded with Armstrong's 'What A Wonderful World'. What a wonderful way to end the concert. Only wish it had been on schedule and ended an hour earlier.