The joy of listening to old-world jazz

Experience the magic of old-world jazz at the World Jazz Festival, featuring global artists in Indian cities.

Dressed elegantly in blue-grey, Netherlands-based alto saxophonist Femke Mooren did a charming rendition of jazz great Cannonball Adderley’s ‘Wabash’ at the Mumbai leg of the World Jazz Festival recently. She followed it up with her upcoming original release ‘Nellie’, in a duet with trumpeter Charlie Philips. Joined by the vibrant Venezuelan pianist Francisco Rodriguez, Spanish bass player Eva Serrao Alarcon and Dutch drummer Rafael Slors, the two ladies filled Mumbai’s St Andrew’s Auditorium with wafts of melody.

Over the next three hours, the audience was transported to sounds from various parts of the world, as 17 artistes performed in different permutations and combinations. Curated and presented by Dutch tenor saxophonist and bandleader Alexander Beets, the evening seamlessly blended old-school jazz with modern sounds, with an eclectic dose of Indian fusion added to the mix. The flow of sounds, assigning of musicians and sequencing of tunes plays an important part in such a multi-artiste concert, and Beets handled these details with elan.

This was the fifth edition of the World Jazz Festival in India, and covered Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Dehradun, besides Mumbai. 

Launched in 2020, it is conceived and produced by Banyan Tree, in collaboration with the Amersfoort Jazz Festival of the Netherlands. On this tour, there was representation from the Netherlands, Brazil, Venezuela, Italy, Spain, Suriname, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.

In Mumbai, one attraction was Brazil-bred, Amsterdam-settled saxophonist Lucas Santana, who dazzled on his original ‘Trouble Maker’. South African trumpeter Darren English did his interpretation of Winston Mankuku Ngozi’s tribute to anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu. This was followed by a crossover interaction where musicians from the Banyan Tree Shishya’s Collective played with jazz artistes. Vocalist Swar Sharma, sarangi player Sandeep Mishra, flautist Hrishikesh Majumdar and tabla player Rohit Deo later returned for the evening’s final track, an Indo-jazz version of Duke Ellington’s ‘It don’t mean a thing (If it ain’t got that swing)’. Both tunes had good individual parts, with pianist Rodriguez enjoying himself, though one felt a little more group preparation was necessary.

Post-interval, the audience was transported to the 1930s and 1940s, as vocalist Graziella Hunsel Rivero of Suriname rendered Ellington’s ‘Drop me off in Harlem’. Her selection of standards included the Billie Holiday-popularised ‘What a little moonlight can do’ and ‘Crazy he calls me’, Ellington’s ‘Mood Iindigo’ and ‘In a mellow tone’ and Dinah Washington’s ‘Mad about the boy’. Accompanied by the Round Midnight Orchestra, she interacted charmingly with the crowd, walking down the aisles and getting people to scat along.

From the classics, the set moved to Thai saxophonist Pang Saxpackgirl, who played two originals ‘Steppin up’ and ‘Dream town’. Her performance was filled with energy and smart improvisation, and one wished she played a couple of more tunes. Likewise, it would have been great to hear saxophonists Adam Simmons and Rolf Peter Delfos as lead artiste, though they played in the group settings.