I cannot claim to be a connoisseur of western music both classical and pop but over the years one has acquired an ear for certain forms of western music, specially Jazz and some forms of pop music.
It all began during my college days in Patiala in the state of Punjab when I started listening to western music over the radio, mostly of the popular kind.There was this very popular radio programme which was broadcast every Saturday night from the All India Radio (AIR)"Bombay" and another popular programme which was broadcast on every Friday night from Delhi station of AIR called 'A date with you'. Our friends circle use to listen them religiously and then exchanged notes the next day in the college. Gradually I became familiar with popular bands and singers of that time which included Frank Sinatra, Pat Boon, Connie Frances, Doris Day,Harry Belafonte,Nat King Cole and many more.On top of that list were Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard.There were two camps in our friends circle. One was the fanatic followers of 'King" Elvis Presley and the other of Cliff Richard. I was a Cliff Richard fan,first of all because his sentimentality was closer to one's heart and then also because he was born in India in the city of Kanpur!
Then came the Beatles. When the Beatles came we all got united as their unabashed fans. Few of us formed an amateur band called the 'Swingers' which mostly sang Beatles songs while our lead singer sang songs of Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. Our name to fame were two free performances in a local bar and a restaurant called Green Hotel in Patiala in lieu of a free dinner. And the only other performance was in a restaurant in Chandigarh whose name I don't remember now. And that was the end of our musical career,at least mine.
But my interest in western music continued and one kept listening to western music on the radio through my college days. As the time passed one got introduced to Jazz through friends and with the coming of the cassette tape recorders and things became easier for all of us. It became easier to share our music and one got greater exposure to music of all kind.One of the earliest inspiring introduction to Jazz was through the music of Louie Armstrong. And then when I shifted to Mumbai in the early seventies the world of western music opened up for me in a big way.At that time in Mumbai there were still some live bands of the Goan origin playing in of the restaurants and bars.Once the discotheques came all hell broke loose!
In the eighties when 'Jazz Yatra' became a regular annual event, one got to listen to many well known jazz groups and musicians from across the globe. The advent of many fusion groups which incorporated both Indian classical musicians and western jazz musicians produced some very original music.Some of the musicians I had the opportunity to listen to at that time were John Coltrane. John McLaughin, John Mayer. L Subramaniyam, Stiphene Grapallis, Herbie Hencock and many such greats.There were some wonderful bands which came up at the time who crated some great music. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Spanish Wave,Maya,Indian Express,Karma, and Shakti some of them I remember listening to. They produced what was called Indi-Jazz Fusion and some of it was also called"Conversations" That was a wonderful time for Indian Jazz Music. Subsequently many such bands came up which produced great music of that janre a tradition which continues even today.
My first real experience of listening to live jazz in a jazz club was in 1992 in Montreal.Canada.I was there to participate in a children's film event and was accompanied by my brother Sharad and his wife Mary.who joined me there from New York. At the end of the event we wanted to listen to some good Jazz and when we inquired with the concierge at the hotel about a jazz club and he suggested 'Biddle's. We just followed his suggestion and landed up at the club to experience some of the best Jazz I had heard till that time.That too live!
Charles Biddle
Charles( Reed) Biddle migrated from the United States where he studied music. When once he came play in a club in Montreal in 1948 along with his band 'TheTrio' he liked the place and the people of Montreal so much that he decided to settle down there and subsequently opened his own club 'Biddle's'. And there we were at that time unaware of the fact that we were listening to one of the best Jazz Musicians of that time and were in one of the best Jazz Clubs of North America.
Biddle played with Charles Sadic and Haltman and had played earlier with some of the best of that time including Oliver Jones, John Ballentine,Ray Dovans, and many great musicians. Biddle also featured in some movies and so did his club in films like 'The Whole Nine Yards' starring Bruce Willis.We stayed on at the club till the wee hours of the night and when during a break we were leaving Biddle himself in a jest tried to stop us from leaving and but then thanked us for visiting the club.I am not sure whether he recognized us as Indians because I came to know later that he had an Indian connection He was in India and Burma (now Myanmar) during the second world war while serving in the US Army.
Then again during my last trip to Montreal in 2012 staying in the same hotel with my brother Sharad when we inquired about 'Biddle's' we were informed that Charles Biddle was no more.Hedied in 2003 and his jazz club 'Biddle's' was now called 'The House Jazz'. We skipped the idea of visiting the club as we did not wish to erase such wonderful memories of the 'Biddle's'
Back in NewYork.NY. we made up with loss of 'Biddle's' and decided to visit the local Jazz club called"Birdland' where Bill O'Connell was playing with his band. The name 'Birdland', evoked great memories of the one of the all time great Charlie Parker 'Bird' one of the greatest Jazz musician ever. a saxophonist and a composer.The club was named after him in 1949 where Bird himself played in his life time. Having read his biography 'Bird' it was great feeling to be in a club named after him. Bird's name was as if synonym with bebop, blues,Latin and classical jazz music. The name "Bird' got attached to Charlie Parker because of his famous composition 'Yard bird suite'
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Bill O'Connell with his band.
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Bill O'Connell and his band that night were playing jazz with Latin American drums with such a gusto that one could not help clapping and shouting 'Wah Wah" which amounted to "Bravo "in the west. In a typical Indian Classical concert the musicians get into a 'jugal bandi' where the percussion player and the main performer who could be a singer or a instrument player. get in to a "conversation" as in Jazz music and then get into a kind of one up man ship where they demonstrate their individual skills at the same time keep everything with in the spirit of the concert.The Latin drum player Richie Flores played with such precision that as if Bill O'Connell's piano keys were locked with his drums. As an Indian I was reminded of great Indian classical music where musicians perform with such cohesive unity at the same time retain their own idividuality.It was for me another great experience of listening to live jazz music after the 'Biddle's' experience.
After the performance I went up to Bill O'Connell and congratulated him for the great performance of the band. I told him how similar it was to the Indian classical music's 'jugal bandi'. He told me that his only Indian connection was that his wife had spent three months in Varanasi in India learning Indian Classical music and he hoped that one day he will come to India and pay at an Indo-Jazz music concert. We exchanged our visiting cards and parted with the hope that we would soon meet in India where he would be play some wonderful music with his band.
Back in India I was pleasantly surprised after a few months when Bill O'Connell established contact with me in the hope that he will come to India and play in one of the local Jazz clubs in Mumbai.
I would cherish all that jazz in mind for ever in the hope that I would experience many such encounters in the times to come with the great Jazz musicians "Live".
Vishnu Mathur.
March 12 ,2015.
Mumbai. 