As an international jazz festival kicks off at a SoBo venue, we catch up with two of the acts ahead of their performances
The city's rich jazz legacy will get a further fillip at the International Jazz Festival slated for this weekend. The line-up includes The Kevin Davy Quartet from the UK, Italian vocalist Elisabetta Antonini, Austrian quintet Worry Later and American act Greg Banaszak Quintet, apart from the Kolkata-based The Latination. The final day will witness a jam session where the leaders of all the acts will take to the stage for an impromptu instrumental conversation.
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(From left) Pradyumna Singh Manot, Emmanuel Simon, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Bijit Bhattacharya and Premjit Dutta
Farrahnaz Irani, the general manager for international music, NCPA, says, "We have noticed that over the past few years, jazz as a genre is growing vastly and becoming very popular in the city. Our aim is to further educate audiences in jazz by conducting more workshops, appreciation courses and master classes." That gives an indication about what the venue has lined up over the next few months. But before that, we spoke to Latination and British icon Kevin Davy about what to expect from their performances at the festival, and about jazz in general.
On : November 24, 25 and 26
At : NCPA, Tata Theatre, Nariman Point.
Log on to : ncpamumbai.com
Entry : Rs.300 to Rs.1,000
Rolling back the years
Kevin Davy is a jazz veteran who earned his musical chops in Manchester while studying at a university there. “I was playing the trumpet before I shifted to Manchester from Nottingham in 1986 as a 25-year-old. But my involvement in music began to get deeper there when I met my mentor and friend, Colin Stansfield, who ran a weekly jazz and improvisation workshop.
I consider that a turning point in how I viewed workshops and music in general,” Davy tells. Now, having formed a quartet, he is gearing up for his maiden performance in India. Their gig will roll back the years, since they will play compositions penned by the legendary Miles Davis, as also originals from Davy’s own repertoire. We ask him about how jazz in its purest form holds relevance when sub-genres are gaining increasing prevalence today. He answers, “The jazz standards and American Songbook tend to be the Bible for jazz musicians. Everyone is expected to know a certain amount and be familiar with that tradition. It seems to underpin a lot of contemporary jazz. It is the foundation.”
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