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

'Shiva Nataraj - King of Dance'
Julian Cowley. The Wire, March 2002

The classic recordings violinist and composer Mayer made druing the mid-1960s with saxophonist Joe Harriott have proved a mixed blessing, in that he is all too easily classed only as a historic figure. Affinities between jazz and Indian music have been exploited often in the intervening years but Mayer's buoyant arrangements retain their charm. This current album perpetuates the idiom established in the original project yet it sounds fresh and there's strong playing from the youthful ensemble, especially saxophonist Carlos Lopez-Real who has also written two sensuous pieces. Composers Stan Sulzmann and David Murphy have responded to commisssions; and Mayer relocates Anton Bruckner to Madras - and it works. Mayer has his place in history but his music still brims with vitality

Ken Hunt. Jazzwise, April 2002

Taking its cue from Hinduism's Cosmic Dancer, Shiva Nataraj is the fourth instalment in the rebirth of Indo-Jazz Fusions. Historians out there may want to luxuriate in the IJF's Harriott-Mayer Double Quintet of yore, circa 1967-8. But the nine musicians in this mixed wind, string, percussion and keyboard ensemble under the baton of maestro Mayer have the advantage of being far more adept and at ease in both musical idioms - jazz and raag. The proof is in the discipline.
Mayer has a highly distinctive voice. His compositions, for example, have none of the sellotaped texture of Ravi Shankar's East-West concertos, simply because Mayer is fluent in both musical systems. Mayer's 'Anton B in Poonamalee' - trademark Mayer is Bruckner's Eighth recast in Chennai. Yet put to the blindfold test, such is the IJF's skilful deployment of sonoroties and ideas that, with the exception of 'J.C.Sangeet', it would be hard to distinguish Mayer's compositions from those of Jonathan Mayer, David Murphy, Carlos Lopez-Real or Stan Sulzmann. That indicates the strides this paradoxical ensemble has made, its musicianship and verve.