Mumbai Jazz
Larry Coryell guitar
Ronu Majumdar Indian flute (bansuri)
Ned McGowan flute
Rajesh Rajbhatt pakhawaj (percussion)
“Mumbai Jazz is a spectacular jazz/raga mix-up matching fusion legends Larry Coryell (guitar) and Ned McGowan (flute) with India’s foremost bansuri player, Ronu Majumdar. Percussionist Rajesh Rajbhatt completes the line-up on the rarely heard pakhawaj, a two-headed drum offering a deeper, rootsier alternative to the tabla.
All four musicians are accomplished performers and composers in their own right: Coryell just about invented jazz-rock; Majumdar has worked with Ry Cooder and George Harrison. This brilliant collaboration has resulted in powerful new works exploring the melodic richness of raga and dynamic rhythmic interplay common to both Indian classical music and jazz.” – Asian Music Centre, London
Reviews
Ronu Majumdar
Ronu Majumdar is a leading bansuri (bamboo flute) player who is as comfortable playing jazz as he is in pure Indian classical music. His fabulous technique marks him out as a major innovator, having introduced a completely new aesthetic to Indian Music in his epoch-making album ‘Song of Nature/A Traveller’s Tale’. Ronu has performed and composed film music for Hollywood, and his work with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck on the album ‘Tabula Rasa’ won him a Grammy nomination. He has collaborated with a hugely diverse range of artists from George Harrison, Ry Cooder and John Hassels to Indian maestros Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj and Kishori Amonkar.
Larry Coryell
The great guitarist Larry Coryell is no stranger to working with Indian musicians and has performed with Zakir Hussain, Shakti and L. Subramaniam. Combining superb technique with sensitive artistry, he has appeared with many of the great names of world music and Western jazz: indeed, his name is firmly embedded among them. Larry is one of the world’s acknowledged guitar masters, having worked with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and recorded more than 75 albums over 40 years. Hailed by his legions of fans as one of the ‘guitar gods’ in the late 1970s and as a ‘truly Renaissance musician who excels at all styles of playing’, he has been christened as ‘a true pioneer of rock-jazz fusion’ by the New York Times and dubbed ‘the Godfather of Fusion’ by Downbeat Magazine.
Rajesh Rajbhatt
Rajesh is one of India’s outstanding pakhawaj players. He can play Indian, Latin and African percussion instruments with equal dexterity and command, and has been working with Ronu Majumdar on several projects and recordings. Rajesh has toured extensively throughout the world, appeared on numerous film soundtracks, and performed with A. R. Rahman, Asha Bhosle and Ustad Sultan Khan. Rajesh’s virtuosic mastery of the pakhawaj lends a distinctive weight to the ensemble’s rhythm section, giving the quartet a somewhat heavier dynamic balance.
..Mumbai Jazz Larry Coryell guitar Ronu Majumdar Indian flute (bansuri)Ned McGowan flute Rajesh Rajbhatt pakhawaj (percussion) “Mumbai Jazz is a spectacular jazz/raga mix-up matching fusion legends Larry Coryell (guitar) and Ned McGowan (flute) with India’s foremost bansuri player, Ronu Majumdar. Percussionist Rajesh Rajbhatt completes the line-up on the rarely heard pakhawaj, a two-headed drum offering a deeper, rootsier alternative to the tabla. All four musicians are accomplished performers and composers in their own right: Coryell just about invented jazz-rock; Majumdar has worked with Ry Cooder and George Harrison. This brilliant collaboration has resulted in powerful new works exploring the melodic richness of raga and dynamic rhythmic interplay common to both Indian classical music and jazz.” – Asian Music Centre, London Reviews Ronu Majumdar Ronu Majumdar is a leading bansuri (bamboo flute) player who is as comfortable playing jazz as he is in pure Indian classical music. His fabulous technique marks him out as a major innovator, having introduced a completely new aesthetic to Indian Music in his epoch-making album ‘Song of Nature/A Traveller’s Tale’. Ronu has performed and composed film music for Hollywood, and his work with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck on the album ‘Tabula Rasa’ won him a Grammy nomination. He has collaborated with a hugely diverse range of artists from George Harrison, Ry Cooder and John Hassels to Indian maestros Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj and Kishori Amonkar. Larry Coryell The great guitarist Larry Coryell is no stranger to working with Indian musicians and has performed with Zakir Hussain, Shakti and L. Subramaniam. Combining superb technique with sensitive artistry, he has appeared with many of the great names of world music and Western jazz: indeed, his name is firmly embedded among them. Larry is one of the world’s acknowledged guitar masters, having worked with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and recorded more than 75 albums over 40 years. Hailed by his legions of fans as one of the ‘guitar gods’ in the late 1970s and as a ‘truly Renaissance musician who excels at all styles of playing’, he has been christened as ‘a true pioneer of rock-jazz fusion’ by the New York Times and dubbed ‘the Godfather of Fusion’ by Downbeat Magazine. Rajesh Rajbhatt Rajesh is one of India’s outstanding pakhawaj players. He can play Indian, Latin and African percussion instruments with equal dexterity and command, and has been working with Ronu Majumdar on several projects and recordings. Rajesh has toured extensively throughout the world, appeared on numerous film soundtracks, and performed with A. R. Rahman, Asha Bhosle and Ustad Sultan Khan. Rajesh’s virtuosic mastery of the pakhawaj lends a distinctive weight to the ensemble’s rhythm section, giving the quartet a somewhat heavier dynamic balance.