JAZZ RAGA STYLE Shankar Jaikishan Rais Khan Sitar Instrumental Bollywood LP

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53

JAZZ RAGA STYLE - Shankar Jaikishan





This is a rare NEAR MINT  OST Copy.
The Vinyl is in Near Mint condition having been played hardly couple of times.The Cover is in VG condition with few marks on it.

About The Album

Here we have a fantastic LP from 1968! 

Musical direction under the famous duo of Shankar & Jaikishan, this is an absolutely amazing LP with seamless blendings of jazz and Indian classical sounds. Each song on the LP actually are ragas but arranged and played in jazz style!! One of my all time faves, a totally mind blowing attempt. Stereo LP. 

Ensemble is: Manohari Singh (sax), John Pereira (trumpet), Lucilla Pacheco (piano), Leslie Godinho (drums), Eddie Travass (bass), Dilip Naik (guitar), Anibal Castro (guitar), Suman (flute), Ramakant (tabla) and Reis Khan on sitar!

The Grammophone Company of India ESCD 2377  first published 1968

1: Raga Todi 2: Raga Bhairavi 3: Raga Malkauns 4: Raga Kalavati 5: Raga Tilak Kamod

6: Raga Miyan Malhar 7: Raga Bairagi 8: Raga Jaijaiwanti 9: Raga Msishra Pilu 10: Raga

Shivranjani 11: Raga Bhaivavi

This is one of the best ethnic jazz albums from Asia and incredibly comes from two film music composers of India! In 1968, probably due to their love of jazz, this duo employed some of the best jazz musicians of India and interpreted some classical Indian ragas in a swing meets bop style of jazz! No film music here, all are originally penned tunes under Indian modes (ragas) with good measure of sitar and tabla fused in.

Excellent album and the copy we have here is the very original 1st pressing of it on black HMV label!

t must be one of the very best ethno jazz records ever, rivaling the instrumental Ethiopique jazz compilation in atmosphere and brilliance (it somehow reminds me of that one) – and here’s the original from 1968 with a beautiful cover. Shankar and Jaikishan had a great part in introducing electronic instruments, hard hitting big band jazz and rock and roll in Indian films in the fifties and sixties (the lurid dream sequence with avant-garde jazz and odd jazz rhythms from the film "Awara" is theirs). 

This record was presumably recorded when the musicians were on strike and not recording for films. The a list of musicians reads like a who is who of the Bombay 60's musician film scene. Among others: Saxophone: Manohari Singh, arranger of R.D. Burman.  Dilip Naik: guitar, guitar player with Burman & Shankar Jaikishan (surf & R&R guitars) Hanibal Castro: guitarist with Shnkar Jaikishan. Leslie Godino is the wild drum that you can hear on 60's Shankar jaikishan & Burman recordings like Gumnaam. Dattaram is the rhythm arranger for Shankar Jaikishan.

The Sitar is played by Ustad (Master) Rais Khan, a classical master that also was a session musician for Bollywood recordings. The notable difference: here you can hear somebody play who can REALLY play sitar, unlike all the hippies & exploito & jazz cats that picked up the sitar because it was hip back in the 60's. Hear the difference! Tabla is played by Ramakant.

Last but not least, the music was arranged by Sebastian D'Souza, the guy who arranged all Shankar Jaiksishan's stuff. He's the Goan jazz & rock'n'roll genius behind the Shankar &  Jaiksishan.

The best thing is that all 11 tracks are really compact and clearly themed, avoiding the aimless wanderings of other attempts at east/west fusions (it’s better than "Indo-jazz fusions" for sure). The jazz themes are deep, catchy and jumping. It’s brooding noir jazz with great, pushing drums and melodies played by excellent horns and flute with funky electric guitar licks in between. Sweet flutes. What you might expect from an Indian existential crime jazz soundtrack from the end of the sixties or something (you know what I mean!). The sitar does the improvisations or takes over the jazzy themes and the tabla joins the powerful jazz drumming as if it’s always been that way. Some tracks are hard hitting and kind of danceable, others are in strange metrums (5/4 or 7/12) but swinging anyway. And it's actually all proper raga's! (Todi, Bhairav, Malkauns, Kalavati, Bairagi, Jaijaiwanti, Mishra Pilu, Shivranjani)  If you’re crazy about Bombay film instro’s, here’s a whole record full of it.