Pop’s Passé, Jazz Up The Blues Now

They say the only way to learn jazz and blues is to live it. So when I expressed an interest in a story on the revival of jazz and blues, its “aficionados” agreed to cooperate, but only on the condition that as a “newbie”, I first experience a live evening.

These “aficionados” are a pretty inclusive club, always eager for new converts to join the fold. And so I headed to Haze Blues and Jazz Bar (frequented by Arundhati Roy and Soli Sorabjee) in Delhi to catch the Shillong-based blues band Soulmate unplugged in a two-hour performance.

Climbing the smoky stairs adorned with posters of geniuses like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Marvin Gaye, I felt as close to New Orleans as I could in New Delhi. The ambience here, much like the music, is smoky, sensual and smooth. After an edgy and mind-boggling performance by the band and some freewheeling chat with the regulars, not to mention the gyan on the music, I’m a “newbie” no more.

Jazz isn’t exactly the newest story as nightlife in the Capital and other cities throws up so much ‘new’ stuff—floating nightclubs, music-and-theme ambiences, lounge, rock groupies... Jazz and blues, as old as our grandfathers if not the hills, may seem like part of a been-there-done-that world. So, these days, when soothing lounge music is all the rage, what has jazz and blues—often thought of as elitist and the preserve of pretentious middle aged men—got to offer? It is rich, complex and sensual. Besides, as Louis Armstrong put it, “it is life”.

So, quietly but surely, the jazz and blues niche is growing, not only in India but also worldwide. The Afro-American form of music has been adopted in countries as wide-ranging as Latin America, Europe and Asia. Says Rudy Wallang, frontman of Soulmate, which is ready to release its second album: “There are wonderful things in this form of music, the liveliness, the improvisation, the being at one with the audience.”

The audience, typically, is one that is not looking for a loud noisy evening out. Kiran Sant, proprietor of Haze Bar, says: “Instead, they are looking to unwind over relaxing and smooth music, like chicken soup for the soul.” Sant, who grew up listening to jazz and blues, realised that there are lots of people out there who are starving for this kind of music. “There was nowhere for these like-minded people to get together. That has changed. Now, of course, there are a lot of joints that regularly host jazz brunches and blues evenings,” he adds. The audience, though generally dominated by thirty-somethings, could range from teenyboppers to the young-at-heart 70-year-olds.

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