"Will you play for me,"? Citro asked drummer Nikhil Vasudevan in the late 2010 and on getting an affirmative reply promptly formed the Brian Citro trio band with Abhishek Mangla as the third musician.
"I needed a drummer and saw him performing there. I just walked over and asked him, and rest is history now," says Citro.
With Nikhil on the drums and bass player Abhishek, the band is now an integral part of the music scene here which comprises groups like Bandish, The Ska Vengers and The Commons.
The trio belt out traditional and progressive jazz music performing newly composed music and reinterpreting standards from jazz greats like Thelonious Monk, Sonnly Rollins and Wayne Shorter.
The musician says India has a growing audience for Jazz which has influential performers like the Grammy nominated Louis Banks who has been spearheading the Jazz movement in the country over the past three decades.
"For jazz to grow here, there needs to be more jazz in the system," says Banks.
"Students need to learn music from an early age. There is a need for schools and academies that not only teach jazz but all other kinds of music," he says. MORE
