Despite his busy schedule as a jazz saxophonist and teacher within the U.S., Carl Clements has at all times “loved visiting Mumbai”, extra so for his one-on-one bansuri classes from Nityanand Haldipur, who has been his guru since 1999.
Carl’s newest go to to India, this July, got here after a seven-year-gap. “First there was a break due to the pandemic, and then, I had other commitments,” he says. While attending courses recurrently, he additionally met his associates from the Mumbai jazz group, in addition to taking part in at two exhibits on the BlueBop Café, a jazz-themed venue in suburban Khar. Says Carl, “Adrian D’Souza (drummer) is an old friend and he invited me when he heard I was coming down.” Carl, thus performed with guitarist Sanjay Divecha, within the first present, and with Adrian, keyboardist Rahul Wadhwani and bassist Shashank Das in each exhibits.
Carl shares an fascinating story about his Indian music journey. Growing up in Chelmsford, close to Boston, he was “surrounded by jazz” due to his father’s fondness for the style. Carl took to pianist Dave Brubeck and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and shortly determined to study the saxophone. He learnt from Jerry Bergonzi and adopted his recommendation of practising six hours a day. Later, he learnt from saxophonists George Garzone and Joe Viola.
While finding out music additional, on the Berklee College of Music, Boston, and the California Institute of the Arts, Carl needed to discover out what else was occurring on this planet of improvisation. That’s what drew him in direction of Indian music. “I had read that John Coltrane (noted saxophonist) liked Indian music, especially Pt. Ravi Shankar. I told myself, if Coltrane likes Indian music, so should I”, shares Carl, who presently teaches saxophone and improvisation, in addition to being a jazz combo coach at Amherst College, Massachusetts.
Carl’s guru and famend flautist Nityanand Haldipur
| Photo Credit:
M. Vedhan
Carl recollects how his good friend, who was finding out South Indian music, shared with him some veena recordings. “I slowly started exploring Indian music and gravitated towards Hindustani. In California, I met Amiya Dasgupta, a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar. Though he played the sitar, he taught me singing and theory. I met his former disciple, David Philipson, who got me started on the bansuri. This was around 1989 and more in line with my music,” he provides.
Carl additionally learnt the bansuri from Steve Gorn in California and says, he “never thought of visiting India to learn”, however, issues modified when his spouse, additionally an artiste, acquired a Fulbright grant. Though she frolicked within the south, Carl accompanied her however stayed in Mumbai. He met American bassist Dee Wood, who launched him to composer Dinshah Sanjana of the fusion band — Divya. “Dinshah invited me to play with Divya where I met bassist Sanjay Swamy, aka Storms, at his recording studio. One thing led to another and I met other jazz musicians. Ranjit Barot introduced me to Louis Banks and suddenly, I was playing with all of them. Yet, the main purpose of my visit to India was to learn the bansuri.”
The seek for a guru led Carl to flautist Devendra Murdeshwar, son-in-law of the legendary flautist Pannalal Ghosh. “He hadn’t been keeping well, so I couldn’t learn from him. I had met Nityanandji, who studied with Murdeshwar and later with Annapurna Devi. They all belong to Baba Alauddin Khan’s tradition, so everything fit in.”
In Carl’s newest album A Different Light, a bit known as ‘Sanyog’ has a robust Indian factor
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Carl says he has not made a aware effort to recurrently mix Indian music into his jazz compositions. “Indian music is vast, and I don’t believe in just taking a bit and adding it to my tunes. As such, I take my training seriously. But there are pieces that are inspired by Indian music, or use of the bansuri. I was in the group, Sundar Shor, where I played the bansuri on jazz compositions. I have played pieces based on raag Shree and Desh in a jazz setting. In my latest album A Different Light, a piece called ‘Sanyog’ has a strong Indian element. In the same album, ‘Good Luck, Bad Luck (Who Knows)’, has the bansuri.”
According to Carl, the pattern of American musicians utilizing Indian influences is just not as frequent because it was 5 many years in the past. “Musicians are exposed to many global forms, they can experiment with various styles. There are some who do it, like drummer Dan Weiss who has made tabla a part of his language. There’s the bansuri player Jay Gandhi, guitarist Rez Abbasi and a collective called Brooklyn Raga Massive. I also notice that more musicians get attracted to Carnatic music, especially the rhythms.”
His personal focus is on jazz. After returning to the U.S., he plans to full his subsequent album. Will it have any affect from his Indian musical learnings? “These things aren’t planned, they just happen. We improvise.” he smiles. Let’s wait and watch.
