The joy of listening to old-world jazz-OxBig News Network

Dressed elegantly in blue-grey, Netherlands-based alto saxophonist Femke Mooren did a charming rendition of jazz great Cannonball Adderley’s ‘Wabash’ at the Mumbai leg of the World Jazz Festival recently. She followed it up with her upcoming original release ‘Nellie’, in a duet with trumpeter Charlie Philips. Joined by the vibrant Venezuelan pianist Francisco Rodriguez, Spanish bass player Eva Serrao Alarcon and Dutch drummer Rafael Slors, the two ladies filled Mumbai’s St Andrew’s Auditorium with wafts of melody.

Over the next three hours, the audience was transported to sounds from various parts of the world, as 17 artistes performed in different permutations and combinations. Curated and presented by Dutch tenor saxophonist and bandleader Alexander Beets, the evening seamlessly blended old-school jazz with modern sounds, with an eclectic dose of Indian fusion added to the mix. The flow of sounds, assigning of musicians and sequencing of tunes plays an important part in such a multi-artiste concert, and Beets handled these details with elan.

This was the fifth edition of the World Jazz Festival in India, and covered Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Dehradun, besides Mumbai. 

Launched in 2020, it is conceived and produced by Banyan Tree, in collaboration with the Amersfoort Jazz Festival of the Netherlands. On this tour, there was representation from the Netherlands, Brazil, Venezuela, Italy, Spain, Suriname, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.

In Mumbai, one attraction was Brazil-bred, Amsterdam-settled saxophonist Lucas Santana, who dazzled on his original ‘Trouble Maker’. South African trumpeter Darren English did his interpretation of Winston Mankuku Ngozi’s tribute to anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu. This was followed by a crossover interaction where musicians from the Banyan Tree Shishya’s Collective played with jazz artistes. Vocalist Swar Sharma, sarangi player Sandeep Mishra, flautist Hrishikesh Majumdar and tabla player Rohit Deo later returned for the evening’s final track, an Indo-jazz version of Duke Ellington’s ‘It don’t mean a thing (If it ain’t got that swing)’. Both tunes had good individual parts, with pianist Rodriguez enjoying himself, though one felt a little more group preparation was necessary.

Post-interval, the audience was transported to the 1930s and 1940s, as vocalist Graziella Hunsel Rivero of Suriname rendered Ellington’s ‘Drop me off in Harlem’. Her selection of standards included the Billie Holiday-popularised ‘What a little moonlight can do’ and ‘Crazy he calls me’, Ellington’s ‘Mood Iindigo’ and ‘In a mellow tone’ and Dinah Washington’s ‘Mad about the boy’. Accompanied by the Round Midnight Orchestra, she interacted charmingly with the crowd, walking down the aisles and getting people to scat along.

From the classics, the set moved to Thai saxophonist Pang Saxpackgirl, who played two originals ‘Steppin up’ and ‘Dream town’. Her performance was filled with energy and smart improvisation, and one wished she played a couple of more tunes. Likewise, it would have been great to hear saxophonists Adam Simmons and Rolf Peter Delfos as lead artiste, though they played in the group settings.

One point worth noting was the presence of six saxophonists and two trumpeters. These days, one normally sees more prominent use of keyboards and guitar, but this time it was welcome to have raw horns and consistent use of the grand piano and double bass. Quite simply, it was jazz as older fans have known it.

Brazil-bred, Amsterdam-settled saxophonist Lucas Santana was the main attraction at the Mumbai leg of the festival 
| Photo Credit:
Cees Wouda

‘My roots will always be Brazilian’, says saxophonist Lucas Santana 

Raised in Brazil and settled in Amsterdam, saxophonist Lucas Santana first came to India two years ago as part of the World Jazz Festival. “It was great to meet Indians, show them a bit of Brazilian culture, and learn a bit about Indian lifestyle and music,” says Santana, who plans to collaborate with an Indian musician.

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Santana grew up in the countryside where his father had taken up a music teaching project. He initially learnt the clarinet but took to the saxophone when he was 11, moving from classical music to jazz. “I was watching this movie, and I saw this guy play a saxophone. I wanted to be exactly like him. Besides classical orchestras, my early influences were Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, but slowly I got drawn to John Coltrane and Charlie Parker,” he recalls. 

After getting scholarships from the Music School Of State Of Sao Paulo and later the Latin Grammy Foundation of Netherlands, Santana shifted to Amsterdam. “It’s a city where all people and cultures come together. That helps me learn more about other kinds of music, though my roots will always be Brazilian,” he says.

Santana has released three albums – Reflections, Ambivalence and Bosquejos do Brasil. He explains the latest release, “Bosquejos means sketches. I have worked with the string quartet called Adam, and that gives a new dimension to my music. Hopefully, I will be able to come up with many more concepts like this,” he concludes.