The duo first met when they were both performing in Boston in 1981. All the time spent on and off stage, jamming with percussions and bass, helped forge a bond between Cyro Baptista and Dee Wood that went beyond music. Such that now, almost four decades later, Bapista — who used to sporadically stay with Wood when touring in Boston — is coming to Mumbai, Wood's home for three decades, for a special gig happening tonight.

While Wood has set-up base in Mumbai, helping build the jazz scene in the city, and by extension the country, Baptista has been touring the world and recording for Herbie Hancock's Grammy Award-winning album Gershwin's World and Yo-Yo Ma's Brazil Project, which won two Grammy Awards. "I got lucky. Especially since today, it's not easy to make music. I learnt something from each of them — they were so patient with me. And so humble, despite being such big names," says Baptista, who grew up in Brazil in the '60s, when music was really picking up there, before he discovered Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.