Music
From Emanuel Simon’s Latin jazz ensemble to Ammith Kumar’s dance interpretation, NMACC’s dual showcase on Apr. 30 brings together sound and movement for a celebration of jazz in the city.
International Jazz Day, as designated by the U.N., is celebrated worldwide each year on Apr. 30. Jazz concerts of varied types are performed everywhere; Mumbai is no exception, and the NMACC has organised two jazz shows: one a jazz music concert and the other featuring jazz dance.
1. The Latination Jazz Band, led by Emanuel Simon
At The Cube, NMACC at 7.30 pm.
The Latination is an established jazz band led by Emanuel Simon, a Frenchman living in India. Simon is a fine percussionist in the genre of Latin jazz, a form that includes, under its broad umbrella, the sounds of jazz from a variety of regions—such as Brazil (Bossa Nova), Puerto Rico (Salsa), and Cuba (Afro-Cuban jazz).
The band has played to large audiences in India and is driven by the technical sophistication of its leader, particularly in understanding and working on the subtleties of the Latin sound in jazz.
In conversation with us, Simon noted that it is perhaps more difficult to reach an audience with Latin jazz as opposed to the swing variety.He also revealed that the band would be playing “Caravan,” a famous Latin jazz composition by jazz master Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol.
His skilled line-up, which includes Anurag Naidu on piano and Jarryd Rodricks on saxophone, among others, makes for a fine ensemble of musicians. The audience can look forward to plenty of head-bobbing and foot-tapping music.
Get tickets here.
2. The Blues Note: A Jazz Testament by The Danceworx
At The Studio Theatre, NMACC at 8 pm.
The dance troupe, led by creative director Ammith Kumar, doing an interpretation of jazz music makes for an interesting visual possibility. With as many as 20 dancers on stage, performing to recorded music, we expect to see some imaginative choreography come to life this International Jazz Day.
Jazz music calls for a serious interpretation of a piece of music, guided by the mood and technique of the players. When that evolved sound gets further interpreted by creative dance maestros, we expect a result of rarefied quality and substance. Speaking to Ammith Kumar, we were told about the variance between the conventional Western dance form of ballet and the more exuberant jazz style. A number of Hollywood movies have used this dance format — from West Side Story, All That Jazz, to older films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and some in between.
An intriguing evening of dance creativity awaits those in the audience.
Get tickets here.