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ShareMUMBAI: I didn't know balding, greying and getting a paunch would make me so endearing to people that they would start calling me kaka. A few years ago, while I struggled to come to terms with my coloured and permed hair fast disappearing, my wife sat down with me and said, "It's all in your mind. If you don't feel the years, they're just not there." She asked me what was it that I badly wanted to do at that time. "I want to start a rock-n-roll band," I said sheepishly. "Well, then go ahead and do it!"
And that's what ageing means to me. It feels great to know that I have mentored upcoming jazz artists, promoted one of the greatest forms of music and satisfied the artist in me.
My first impression as a teenager was the Duke Ellington big band, who performed in Mumbai well over thirty years ago. The musicians attired in their white sharkskin suits and black bow ties have left an indelible mark on my mind and the music just got to me. Ever since then I have always enjoyed and listened to a lot of jazz.
As a child in school, I remember going to Bandstand to listen to the Navy Band play popular tunes on weekends. The musicians were all smartly turned out in their white starched uniforms.
Managed by a dedicated team of jazz music lovers, the Jazz Utsav has overcome all odds of poor funding and no sponsors to keep its flag flying high with some great concerts over the years.
Unfortunately, we in India only look for recognised names. But Jazz Utsav has consistently featured GREAT JAZZ and not JAZZ GREATS. Artists who are talented and really well-known in their own countries have been performers at our festivals.
The music scene in India is still undeveloped. The main reason being that parents nowadays do not encourage their children to study music. Only when children are exposed to music will they learn to appreciate it and be tempted to learn an instrument. The unreasonable entertainment tax imposed on live music shows is a big deterrent. We have appealed to all in the various governing bodies to repeal or reduce this tax and encourage more foreign artists to come to India and perform.
This will not only encourage the young to learn music, but appreciate the class and finesse of shows put up by foreign groups, who blend technology and talent for sheer clean, enjoyable entertainment, besides earning a reasonable amount of revenue for the state governments.
Indian jazz musicians still have a long way to go. We have our legends, like Braz Gonsalves and Louis Banks, and now we have his talented son Gino on drums, who will go far with exposure and support with his band member Sheldon D'Silva, a great bassist with an attitude to match.
Prakash Thadani is the organiser of the Jazz Utsav, on at Land's End Amphitheatre, Bandra (W) over the weekend.
