[indo-jazz fusions] - [recordings] - [biography] - [reviews]

Indo Jazz Fusions at the Ross-on-Wye International Festival

The Times - Arts: Jazz

One of the most evocative sounds of the 1960's was the integration of sitars and tablas with mainstream pop music. But even before George Harrison's experiments with the Beatles, the groundwork had been done by British jazz musicians through the group led by Indian-born violinist John Mayer and Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriot.

Indo-Jazz Fusions made three albums before Harriot's death in 1973. Even then, the critics were divided about the sucess of fusing dance music with trance music, but Harriot's improvisation won the band a commited following. Since the demise of the original group, Mayer has led a distinguished career as a composer and teacher. This year, though, he reformed the band. Now, with a new album on the way, they played one of the first British gigs at the inaugural Ross-on-Wye International Festival.

In a marquee next to the Wye, the band went into Raga Megha, immediately raising all the old critical questions again. Without soloists of the calibre of Harriot to impose a dominant musical personality on each composition, the band placed more emphasis on the underlying conjunction of styles, and this quickly settled into a sequence of alternations between genres more than genuine fusion. But as the band settled, saxophonist Anna Brooks came into her own, and some exhilarating solos also came from Mayer's son Jonathan on sitar and pianist Steve Tromans.
Alyn Shipton

John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions Asian Airs

Brave man John Mayer reforming the I.J.F! This CD succeeds because of the strength of the writing and the quality of the ensemble playing. In many ways, this group produces a more effective synthesis than the original, precisely because it lacks the distraction of a virtuoso soloist. Don't get me wrong, the musicians aquit themselves well. It's just that their solos function within the pieces but I doubt they would do so outside this context. The trumpet of Dave Smith is used to strong effect by Mayer and Anna Brooks suggests that she has real ability as a jazz player. But the emphasis is on the compositions. Only the track YAMAN by Mayer's son sounds lightweight. The stand out tracks are ASIAN AIRS (a real toup de force), THE BEAR (by pianist Tromans) and SONG BEFORE SUNRISE. If you enjoyed the original I.J.F. then you won't be disappointed. If you just fancy something a bit different, then this will get you. This recording owes as much to the Indian Classical tradition as to Jazz and in this case that's no bad thing.
Duncan Heining (The Times)

The Sunday Times - On Record: Jazz
John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions - Asian Airs.

Indo-Jazz Fusions, the multi-disiplinary group that the violinist John Mayer assembled in the 1960's carved out a footnote as an early example of another, more challenging experiment in crossover music. Modal jazz, grappled with the more intricate improvisational demands of the Indian Classical Tradition. Now professor of composition at Birmingham Conservatoire, Mayer has returned to his pioneering format with new and younger personel, the tabla, the sitar, the flute and tambura with the saxophone, piano, trumpet, bass and drums. Though Asian Airs occasionally has the tentative air of a work-in-progress, the layering of instruments on themes such as Megha and Pilu remain compelling. Yes, you long to hear a commanding horn player break into the conversation, but Asian Airs leaves the listener eager to hear the next chapter in the journey.