Bengaluru to celebrate International Jazz Day with young talent

International Jazz Day celebrations in the city will span three days and take place at different locations this year

Ever since its inception in 2012, International Jazz Day has been celebrated the world over on April 30, every year. Chipping in their mite for the great genre that is jazz, is the Bangalore School of Music, which will be celebrating the occasion with an interesting line up spread over three days.

According to Jagadeesh MR, Director, Bangalore School of Music (BSM), there will be jazz-related events on April 27, 28 and 30, to ring in the festivities. “Of late, we have been witnessing a lot of youngsters taking to jazz and it is quite heartening to see them play complex jazz standards,” says Jagdeesh, talking about a nine-year-old jazz guitar player and his twin sister who is a jazz vocalist, as well as three students between the ages of 10 and 13 who play the saxophone.

The first day of the festival will see the students of BSM and younger musicians who have been frequenting Cafe Jazz sessions showcase their skills. Cafe Jazz is a monthly event held at Goethe Institut where the city’s up-and-coming musicians bond with their audiences and each other over performances.

“Audiences can expect to hear the August Quartet which was birthed at the Cafe Jazz sessions; Pockets & Changes, a trio led by 19-year-old Leanne Besterwich and the Deep Blue Brass, an ensemble which plays only brass instruments such as saxophones, trumpets and trombones, led by Melvin Manoharan,” says Jagadeesh, adding that BSM students and others will part of the line-up on day one.

The second day will see senior musicians and pros take to the stage at Bangalore International Centre. The artistes who will be performing include the Radha Thomas Ensemble, the Gerard Machado Network, MoonArra and, “a young percussionist Sunil Ramesh who will be displaying and showcasing Afro percussion, with a drummer called Rohit,” says Jagadeesh.

“That is a special segment because rhythm and percussion are a core part of the various styles of jazz,” he adds.

Day three of the International Jazz Day Festival will take place at the Museum of Art and Photography where MoonArra will engage with Prakash Sontakke in a musical conversation on Indian Classical and Jazz. “We will be performing a lot of our own compositions and breaking them down, explaining to the audience how Indian classical music and other world influences connect with jazz,” he says.