The nuanced Shonai Collective and the funky Wojtek Justyna Tree Oh bookended Day Two of JazzFest2023 at Dalhousie Institute in Saturday, magically acting as a frilly frame to JazzMahal, a Kolkata trio that takes pride in describing itself as an Indian jazz band.
Arunava 'Shonai' Chatterjee's collective played tunes from its forthcoming album, Epiphany, which unspooled itself as an introspective journey mapped with care and finesse by Shifumi Saito's definitive phrasings on the double bass, and the contemplative, instinctively low-key stick work by Shantanu Sudarshan on his drum kit — particularly the cymbals. The Shonai Collective (he has since moved from Kolkata to Delhi) is a devoted messenger of straight-ahead classic jazz yet unafraid to explore and purposefully stray into territory it can then call its own. We will be looking forward to Epiphany.
JazzMahal shone bright with its pyrotechnics on both the electric and acoustic double bass with Debjit Mahalanobis using his bow to scratch, scream and tease out myriad sounds from those four strings, acting, at times, as a worthy counterpoint to Tazim Sheikh's deliciously melodic piano playing. Indian-isms punctuate their music naturally, occasionally emphasised by Aniruddha Saha, who belts out the taal while working the drums effortlessly. One time, while taking a solo, he discards the stick and uses his left hand on the snare, allowing the right to play on the toms and cymbals. Listeners loved his spontaneity.
The band loves to mess it up with electronic gadgetry — Sheikh uses a keyboard placed beside his piano for this — soon after a tune has led us on the lush green garden path only to return much later to the start point, re-emphasising the magic of the core tune. JazzMahal is a delightful Indian band with roots to a city it wants to pay tribute to. Ode to Kolkata, therefore, references a tune we all know and have loved. So, the first section of Aha ki Anondo Akashe Batashe, a Satyajit Ray composition for his film, Hirak Rajar Desh, is reprised with love and devotion. And when Ode takes flight, all we can sense is unbridled joy, perhaps even reminding some of us who we are and where we have come from.
Then came Wojtek Justyna Tree Oh with its brand of jazz-rock generously top-loaded with funk, disco and some Santana-style guitar riffs. The guys, a motley crew of musicians from Poland, Austria, Germany and Portugal, bill themselves as a trio (hence, Tree Oh) but have a fourth person doing duty on percussion to enliven proceedings manifold.
In between the sets by JazzMahal and Wojtek Justyna Tree Oh we heard tracks from the record, Shout On, by Leadbelly, played on the console by Jivraj 'Jiver' Singh with love and care. Curiously, and amazingly, songs by the Forties' American folk legend seem to make sense, coming as they did after a jazz band from Kolkata.
SHONAI COLLECTIVE is Arunava ‘Shonai’ Chatterjee (piano), Shifumi Saito (double bass) and Shantanu Sudarshan (drums) Picture by Leslie D’Gama
JAZZMAHAL 2: Debjit Mahalanobis toys with electric and acoustic double bass, plucking and slapping out notes. At times he uses the violin bow to mesmerising effect. Picture by Leslie D’Gama
WOJTEK JUSTYNA TREE OH, comprises musicians from Poland, Austria, Germany and Portugal. It has four bandmates though! They are Wojtek Justyna, Daniel Lottersberger, Alex Bernath and Diogo Carvalho Picture by Leslie D’Gama
LEADBELLY: One of the many albums Jivraj ‘Jiver’ Singh was spinning on his console in-between acts Telegraph Online picture
