All that Jazz

Why do I love jazz so much? It’s soulful, and fits human moods brilliantly. It can swing from happy to a deep connection with in seconds and can even cry soulfully when pleading for help. Jazz rejoices like never has there been a moment of such a high and also can be fun and childish and impish and full of camaraderie when it chooses to be that.

Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains. From west Africa through the slaves. And New Orleans became the jazz capital. Jazz was a thriving form of popular music in the 1920’s after it caught on among the musicians who were paid to entertain clients in the brothels of New Orleans. And then the worlds greatest happened - up coming stars like Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke perfected the ‘hot’ style and made Jazz popular. Ella Fitzgerald pushed it notches onwards. And jazz music started thriving. So many genres came to existence - bebop, hard bop, Dixieland, cool jazz, free jazz, jazz-fusion, modal jazz, soul jazz, smooth jazz and boogie woogie. Fitzgerald, along with Louis Armstrong in particular, introduced jazz to a more mainstream audience with her vast repertoire, and her version ‘Mack the knife’ became a pure classic.

Am I a puritanical jazz lover? I don’t know what that means. I love music of all kinds and all genres. I love jazz and I love Madonna too. These days I love Bollywood and can tap to anything that sounds good to the ear. Am not selective about my music but am very appreciative of any music. Music to me, is food, for my soul.

Closer home, when I see Jazz and its introduction to my life, I relate all that Jazz to the now defunct Jazz Yatras. Interestingly, jazz pockets exist all over India like Capital Jazz (Jazz Yatra gave way to this) Pune Jazz Club, Bangalore Jazz Habba, Chennai Jazz Club, Jazz Goa, the West Coast Jazz Utsav in Mumbai.

Some jazz clubs are far more active than the others (pretty much like the Hashers) - for instance The Pune Jazz Club meets every month at the Max Mueller and share details on their fave jazz artistes. They also organize the occasional live jazz event at Shisha Cafe, Koregaon Park. The club members have a blast at every meeting that invariably turns into a party. Bangalore Habba features a four day jazz festival within the ten day festival. Some of India's most accomplished jazz artistes, including visiting international artistes come to perform here. Goan jazz musicians have always been at the forefront of the jazz scene in India. And Jazz Goa makes sure they stay in the limelight. Calcutta and Delhi too have a decent fan following for this niche music arena in the country. So its not surprising at all why they say All that Jazz for nothing.