Chrissie Murray - JAZZWISE. September.2000
* * * * Recommended
Rarely, if ever, does violinist-composer John Mayer get due credit for his
groundbreaking work in Indo-jazz fusion. Mayer did it first, and he did
it here, easing the way for Ravi Shankar's later headline-grabbing
collaborations with The Beatles, John McLaugghlin's flights of fantasy
with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, Alice Coltrane's monumental
epics of the 70s right up to the nu-fusion of today's young Asian movers
'n' groovers such as Trilok Gurtu, Nitin Sawhney and Talvin Singh.
In the mid-1960's, John Mayer, a young violinist with the Royal
Philharmonic, seriously challenged the conventions of the day by bringing
together a double quintet which dared to play a new music - an innovative
mix of Western classical, Indian folk themes and free-jazz stylings. The
'Indian' side comprised Mayer (violin/harpsichord), Diwan Motihar (sitar),
Chris Taylor (flute), Keshav Sathe (tabla) and Chandrahas Paigankar
(tambura) alongside the 'jazz' component- Joe Harriott (alto), Eddie Blair
(trumpet), Pat Smythe (piano), Rick Laird (bass, later to work with the
Mahavishnu, of course) and Alan Ganley (drums). With Harriott's early
death in 1973, the group disbanded. But four years ago, Mayer creared a
vibrant, energetic, new Indo-Jazz Fusions group to play a pile of dynamic
new charts. Drawn from some of our brightest young music students, the
band today includes Mayer's son Jonathan, himself a gifted composer and an
inspired sitar player (traditional and electro-acoustic).
Inja (the title track is a new Kenny Wheeler tune) is Mayer's third new
Indo-Jazz Fusions album and best so far. Partly sponsored by the
Birmingham Conservatoire, the music has at last got the treatment in the
studio it deserves.. The interwoven patterns and cross-rhythms of mayer's
'Ganga Ma', 'Bandish', 'Gaud-Sarang' and 'Acka Raga' (written originally
for Acker Bilk, would you believe) certainly evoke the spirit and feel of
the old Indo-Jazz line-up and, indeed, 'Subject@ is a touching tribute to
the much-loved Joe Harriott. Mayer's interesting 'Vasant Mukhari',
incidentally, is based on the classic Indian raga which was taken to Spain
in the form of the Maquam (Arabic scale) Hijazi where it evolved into
Andalusian flamenco. Fascinating stuff. And if you get the chance to see
this wonderful group live, don't miss them. Go and see for yourself how
history was made.