Tracing back India's connection with jazz music to the 1920s, American guitarist Stanley Jordan says the musical genre "found a welcome home in Bollywood".
The musician is in the Capital to perform at the Jazz Utsav here today.
"There is a long history of jazz in India going back to the 1920s. Many African-American jazz musicians toured to India to be free from the racial discrimination in the US at the time. The audiences here identified with the theme of freedom in the music as it validated their own aspirations to be free of colonialism.
"Jazz also found a welcome home in Bollywood as it did in Hollywood. Besides that, both jazz and Indian classical music feature improvisation, so I think there was a common resonance in the cultural traditions as well," Jordon, an ardent fan of Pandit Ravi Shankar and L Shankar, told PTI in an email interview.
The musician's tryst with Indian music happened as a teenager when he saw sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan and American jazz musician John Handy perform together in San Francisco.
"It was a life-changing experience!" says the four-time Grammy nominee, who has himself collaborated with Indian musicians Jay Kishor(sitar) and Vedang Londhe (tablas), to record a CD of ragas, with influences of jazz music.
"When it comes to ragas I know I have a lot to learn and I want to learn, but I'll say this for sure: When Jay and I play together there is a magic that happens," he told PTI.
However, according to him, there exists a popular notion that jazz is complicated and the belief that only "simple music sells" has turned music into a "commodity with less cultural value".
After the 1950s, Jordan says, pop-culture became a rage
across the globe pushing music genres like jazz and classical to the back seat.
"There was this belief that only simple music sells. Ironically, this has hurt the music industry in the long run because it's turned music into a commodity with less cultural value," he says.
However, Jordan is optimistic with jazz staging a gradual yet steady comeback, following reduced profits in the pop genre.
The musician sees this as an opportunity to restore the "true value" of music.
"With reduced profits in pop, there's an opportunity to restore the true value of music and there are new business opportunities online.
"Also, people are tired of the same old stuff, so I think there's an opportunity right now for resurgence of jazz around the world, including in India. My goal is to help make that happen. These are very exciting times!" he says.
The artiste also has an ear for electronic dance music, and is currently working on developing his own form of "electronica, and combining it with jazz".
Excited to be in India, Jordan will showcase his unique 'touch or two-handed tapping technique' on guitar where a string is hammered against the fretboard with the finger, to produce a note with one hand, during his performance here. He will also play the piano alongside guitar.
"The touch technique was inspired by the piano, which was my first instrument. When I use the technique, I'm able to play guitar and piano at the same time, which allows me to orchestrate with a bigger palette of tonal colours. I treat the two as if it were a single instrument. It helps me to expand the musical possibilities," he says.
