For the past three months the bar at the Renaissance Hotel at Powai, Mumbai has been host to some awesome jazz every Friday night, courtesy of Joe Alvares and his band. Although never overflowing with an audience, the Velvet Lounge makes for quite an intimate and enjoyable venue.

What was different this time around though was that India's most celebrated jazz musician; Louis Banks was to join the band along with Karl Clemens who's an amazing saxophone player from Boston. It was a gig that promised a lot from an incredible set of musicians. Also on stage that night were Gino Banks (drums), Bertie (Bass), Sanjay Joseph (guitar) and Shefali (vocals).

As expected, it was to be a night of standards. That, in it's self brings in certain level of intrigue to the proceedings because one is never quite sure how the band is going to treat songs that have been around for ages and have been performed by several musicians the world over. As the evening went on, things just kept getting more interesting. Even a blues track like "Ain't no Sunshine" that's been covered by practically every blues/jazz band didn't at seem to drag. As standards went by, everybody was just reminded why these musicians are held in such high regard.

Although this particular evening didn't seem to find the musicians in their element, it was captivating nonetheless. There were jaw-dropping solos now and then. For instance "street Life" had everybody soloing their hearts out to good effect! On the whole I think the band would testify that they've all had better days. What made the gig so exciting for me though was the band's approach to each track. As earlier mentioned, it was worthwhile just seeing how they turn a song around and make it sound totally different, at the same time, not losing sight of the main thread of the track. This was demonstrated best in the performances "Summertime" and especially the Police's "Roxanne", which seems to have achieved 'standard' status! Several musicians have performed "Roxanne" in hundreds of different ways but nothing comes close to what we got to hear at the Velvet Lounge the other night. Louis Banks and company gave it a refreshingly ambient and highly textural feel, while Karl Clemens belted out great sax solos!

Clemens certainly was the most entertaining player on the night. What was also very interesting was Joe Alvares and Shefali singing a couple tracks together and also Louis Banks and Karl Clemens trading licks while performing summertime.

Aditya Nain
stonejaded@yahoo.com
www.drummingworld.com