An early celebration

In a pre-Jazz Day jam, a collective of Mumbai musicians comes together to give pop songs a jazz makeover

If you were to visit Cafe Zoe on Wednesdays, it's likely that you would find members of this collective performing as part of the weekly jazz initiative by bassist Abhinav Khokhar. And tonight, the Mumbai-based musician, along with other skilled members of the city's jazz community, will raise a toast to the genre, even as the city gears up for multiple gigs leading up to International Jazz Day on April 30.

Brought together six months ago by city classical-turned-jazz pianist Anurag Naidu, The Bombay Jazz Collective, which includes Sahil Shah (drums) and Lydia Hendrikje Hornung (vocals), will play a set where they perform jazz renditions of popular songs like American Boy, Only Girl and Shape of You. This set will also feature Shreya Bhattacharya on vocals.

Anurag Naidu

The collective was formed organically. "It's a joint effort. We came together and one day, decided to just do it. Everyone in this community helps each other out and tries to figure things out internally," says Naidu, which is evident as most of the members have played in each other's solo album recordings and live sets. And while they haven't composed originals together yet, they will perform original compositions from Hornung's upcoming album and Naidu's recent J'aifame. Khokhar shares, "Mumbai's jazz scene is varied.

Shreya Bhattacharya

The term means different things to different people. So, this collective is actually more of a group that likes improvising - we want to have fun and make people groove." Another win is that the performance is at a Bandra resto-bar that has only recently opened up to hosting gigs. "It's nice to see new venues step up to celebrate the occasion. I have never played here, so that's another thing to look forward to," he shares.

ON: April 26, 9 pm onwards
AT: One Street, B/2, New Kamal Building, Linking Road, Bandra West.
CALL: (to RSVP) 8108669680

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