Caribbean saxophonist Joe Harriott's classic collaboration
with Calcutta composer and conductor John Mayer. In England
in the 1960s, Harriott was something of a vanguard wonder on the order
of Ornette Coleman. And while the comparisons flew fast and furious and
Harriott was denigrated as a result, the two men couldn't have been more
different. For one thing, Harriott was never afraid to swing. This
work, written and directed by Mayer, offered the closest ever
collaboration and uniting of musics East and West. Based almost entirely
in the five-note raga -- or tonic scale that Indian classical music
emanates from -- and Western modalism, the four ragas that make up the
suite are a wonder of tonal invention and modal complexity, and a
rapprochement to Western harmony. The band Harriott assembled here
included his own group -- pianist Pat Smythe, bassist Coleridge Goode,
and drummer Allan Ganley -- as well as trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, flutist
Chris Taylor, Diwan Mothar on sitar, Chandrahas Paiganka on tamboura,
and Keshan Sathe on tabla, with Mayer playing violin and Harriott on his
alto. Of the four pieces, the "Overture" and "Contrasts" are rooted in
blues and swing, though they move from one set of ascending and
descending notes to the other, always ending on the tonic, and involve
more than the five, six, or seven notes of Indian classical music, while
the latter two -- "Raga Megha" and "Raga Gaud-Saranga" -- are out to
lunch in the Western musical sensibility and throw all notions of
Western harmony out the window. The droning place of the tamboura and
the improvising sitar and alto shift the scalar notions around until
they reflect one another in interval and mode, creating a rich,
mysterious tapestry of sonic inquiry that all but folds the two musics
into one another for good. Amazing.
Enjoy!
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This is a classic and a real gem! There are also 2 great Indo Jazz fusions from the same guys. Check out Ravi Harris - Funky Sitar when you like your Sitar funky!
Thank you Schmalx for your recommendations.
I have heard the one indo-jazz fusion album,but not the other.I think it's indo-jazz suite 2.I'll check it.
As for Ravi Harris it's a great lp of this kind.I think that the guy playing sitar is the later founder of daptone records.
Thanks. I had this album on vinyle a long time back. It's nice to have it in digital format.
Thank you rintesh for your comments!
All the albums these two artists recorded together are great.Mayer also recorded with his own band indo-jazz stuff, many years after Harriot's death.It happens to have some of them in digital form,but not great quality.
Mishra Blues is on Indo Jazz Fusions not Indo Jazz Suite so that youtube is wrong
You are right,Reza!
I confused it because of the cover at the video,but I had to check it anyway.
Thanks for the correction.
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