But Crosscurrents harmonized these dark-hued ragas with arpeggiated piano chords and washes of electric guitar. Mahadevan explained to listeners how Indian classical music is driven by melody and rhythm, without harmony. It was easy to hear why the emotional depth and expressive freedom of these age-old ragas have attracted not only Coltrane, but musicians from dozens of different genres over the decades. His melismatic vocalism was particularly stirring in a pair of pieces representing, by turns, the South Indian and North Indian classical traditions. Rivaling Hussain as an icon in the band is Bollywood star Shankar Mahadevan: The singer’s appearance for the second tune elicited rapture from the audience. Along with his classical playing, the percussionist was a key figure in the mid-’70s acoustic band Shakti and its late-’90s successor, Remember Shakti those groups were the most significant Indo-jazz collectives of their time, co-led by guitarist John McLaughlin. The Indian-American community come out in force to express appreciation for Hussain, 66, whose every solo audibly thrilled the crowd. (Louiz Banks has explored somewhat similar musical terrain before, having been a key contributor to the late Bob Belden’s Miles From India project bandmate Gino Banks is his son.) The Crosscurrents sextet-which includes bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter, guitarist Sanjay Divecha, pianist Louiz Banks, drummer Gino Banks and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan-then busted into a bumptious, Bollywood-meets-blues number to illustrate the point. 5-pointed out that long before Coltrane was moved to explore the sound and spirit of Indian classical music, American jazz influenced musicians in India as far back as the Swing Era, thanks to the global popularity of Hollywood films. But veteran tabla master Zakir Hussain-leading a performance by his Indo-jazz group Crosscurrents for the sixth annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, on Nov. (Photo: Courtesy YouTube/Chan Centre for the Performing Arts)įrom John Coltrane in the ’60s to current stars Rudresh Mahanthappa and Dan Weiss in the 21st century, the influence of Indian musical traditions on jazz has been fruitful.
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Saxophonist Chris Potter (left), bassist Dave Holland and tabla player Zakir Hussain of the band Crosscurrents.