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Louiz Banks, thank you for the music...

As the godfather of Indian jazz turns 75, Yogesh Pawar walks with him down memory lane, recounting delicious stories and milestones that have made him the person he is

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The newly painted deep blue house at the end of a leafy Santacruz lane in Mumbai reeks of paint. At the table sits the legend of Indian jazz, Louiz Banks. "The house was in knee-deep water in the rains and we are now fixing things," he explains. The film composer, record producer, jazz musician-keyboardist, singer and maestro of genres like Indipop, modern progressive and contemporary jazz, and Indo jazz fusion, who's turning 75 says, "Things like the smell of paint hardly matter while making music".

An avid painter, Banks' home has some of his stunning works adorning walls. A picture of Christ on the crucifix that he painted several years ago leaves one transfixed. Banks trails my gaze and clears his throat. "This one's a favourite. I painted it when I was still struggling and always feel a deep connect, which is why it occupies pride of place where I work." He quickly clarifies he isn't "a religious church-goer" though. "My faith is more spiritual than religious. I feel divinity when I make music," he avers.

Child prodigy

The legend, born as Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi, has always cast a magical spell with his music from early adolescence, a legacy he credits his father George Banks with. "We were a brood of five. I wasn't the only one singled out for musical attention by my father, but others convinced him they'd go only that far and no more. He saw a spark in me and really worked hard to nurture my talent," he recounts laughing. "As a child, I hated how he woke me early in the cold Darjeeling mornings to practise. It was harsh back then, but look at what that training did for me." Along with school, his music training continued till he was playing both the piano and trumpet with equal proficiency by 13 and began jamming with his father's band at the local gymkhana club.

Banks remembers its very British ambience. "All the music came written from London. The band practised and played the same repertoire. I was playing both trumpet and piano and alternating with dad playing either with the band." In fact, young Banks' music got such applause that his father then changed his name to Louiz Banks in tribute to American trumpet legend-composer, Louis Armstrong. He brushes off questions about juggling school and music. "I never saw it like that. I guess music was my calling even at that age.

This "training" continued till Banks was once "blown away" by some piano music his father brought home when he was 16. "Not only had I never heard anyone play like that, but I couldn't imagine anyone could. When dad told me it was the legendary Canadian jazz pianist and composer Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, I said I wanted to play like him." He remembers his father's warm hug. "He told me if I practise I could play like Peterson." That moment was a turning point. It brought him and jazz together for good.

Kathmandu calling

When the senior Banks decided to move to Nepal, Louiz would spend time with his father in Kathmandu where they continued to jam. Here, a German manager of the city's best-known five-star hotel, impressed with Louiz' piano skills, offered him to lead a band at the Soaltee — patronised by the royalty and high society of Nepal — promising to hire the best musicians from Calcutta to join him. Banks, however, had slightly more existential worries and told him of his teaching job at Darjeeling only to be asked what he was paid. "When I told him I got `500 he agreed to double that and also offered me a house. That both dad and I were now pursuing music in a country for which my grandfather, Bakhat Bahadur Budapirti, had composed the national anthem Shreeman Gambhira Nepali (the official anthem from 1962-2006) made it special."

RD Burman, who was once at the Soaltee, at the height of his career, was so impressed that he offered Banks a chance to come to Bombay and join him right away. "I was completely cut off from Hindi film music and didn't even know him. I just kept it polite and said I will take him up on his offer if and when I ever came to Bombay." Meanwhile, word of his musical prowess got around and on the recommendation of vocalist Laurie Pereira, he was offered to come to Calcutta's hotel Hindustan International to perform in early 1969. He moved there and then to Delhi's Oberoi Hotel a year-and a-half later, only to come back to Calcutta and play at the Oberoi Grand first, and then at the nightclub Blue Fox restaurant, where along with singer Pam Crain and saxophonist Braz Gonsalves he formed The Louis Banks Brotherhood. "It will always remain the best band I've been part of." That's when he met, fell in love and married Lorraine and went on to have four children: Andre, Gino, Neil and Monique.

In 1974, he met RD Burman again, this time in Bombay, who asked him to start working with him immediately on Mukti, where Shashi Kapoor plays the piano. "I played all the piano pieces." Pleased, Burman offered him a permanent job in his orchestra.



(Clockwise) With the band Silk, rehearsing with RD Burman, with Amitabh Bachchan, Sivamani at the launch of Phir Mile Sur and Performing with singer Pam Crain as part of The Louis Banks Brotherhood)

Bombay beckons

Banks however, hedged. Back in Calcutta, he hoped things would work out, but the nightlife there was dying so he joined Burman instead. "At the end of each day, musicians would get paid. I'd never seen so much money all my life. Family needs were growing and I began spending all my time working hard. Lorraine single-handedly managed the home and how the kids grew, I never realised."

He was soon working with composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal ("RD Burman's graph was going down"). He remembers Pyarelal for his fiery temper. "He was a great violinist and would lose it if someone forgot his cue or made a mistake," he recounts.

It is while talking about composer Bappi Lahiri that Banks cracks up. "He'd walk in well past the afternoon in his tunics, gold chains and dark glasses, often clueless about the project/song. Everything was marked by a randomness, which baffled me to no end." He remembers doing background scores for some of the films where Lahiri would tell musicians to "just play something..." But irrespective of all the randomness, people just loved his chartbusters, confesses Banks.

Mad ad world

Around this time he was also approached by ad films for music. It would lead him to compose the tunes for the timeless Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Desh Raag and the Spread The Light of Freedom films too. In fact, he was then approached to give the signature tune for DD's English News.

And yet, it was not like the lure of live music had gone. Along with becoming a sought-after name as an arranger-composer, most of Bombay's nightclubs have him to thank for bringing a live jazz culture to the city. In 1979, with Goan saxophonist Braz Gonsalves, he formed the 'Indo-Jazz Ensemble', composing music on Indian classical scales and jazz rhythms, incorporating instruments like ghatam and thavil. Within a year, he was invited to perform with sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar at the Jazz Yatra festival. Later, he teamed with Carnatic vocalist Ramamani to perform 60 concerts across Europe. "I was literally living out of a suitcase, and almost never home," he remembers wistfully.

Happy to roll with the times, he has gladly taken to technology. "Since I know the fundamentals, I'm not blindly following technology. But I like working with really young musicians because their sensibilities and contexts are so different from mine."

As we wind up, his drummer son Gino and flock of young musicians await him in his in-house studio for a recording...

Celebrating genius

The maestro is being honoured with a special concert to mark his platinum birthday by these giants of the music world on December 8th, at the Shanmukhananda auditorium:

"Looking forward to sharing the stage with the father of jazz in India"



—Ustad Zakir Hussain


"This is a great opportunity to play for and with our guru, our mentor"


—Shankar Mahadevan


"Louiz uncle has always been a man far ahead of his times. No wonder his music connects with everyone from eight to eighty"


—Rakesh Chaurasia

"He was there in the space we got into, before anyone else"


—Sivamani

"I've always admired Louiz' music even before we came together in the band called Silk. A great musician and generous person, he leaves a mark on anyone he meets"


—Karl Peters

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