Just reminiscing, and when i rewind to distant, last millennium past in Pune, i remember seeing/hearing (and believing) bands/musicians like Charlie Byrd, Eberhard Weber, Association PC, Dave Liebman (thanks to Max Mueller Bhavan and Alliance Francaise), and after 1978, Jazz Yatra bands like Oregon, Galapagos Duck, at Nehru Memorial Hall and St Vincent's School's Gulati Hall. My mates and i would get to the venues before concert time, and the excitment in the atmosphere one could feel and almost touch.And sure, we would talk about and relive the thrills of the concert, months and even years after. Gulati Hall was and is very strict no-smoking/drinking zone - all we got was tea/coffee, cold drinks and snacks if we were lucky, in the intermission. Yes, the music was the only high and the only focus of every one in the audience.
Alas, how far we have come, how jaded we've gotten. Todays' concert venues in Pune are restaurants and eateries, where while some music prodigy or legend may be blowing or playing his heart/soul out on stage - the audience is quaffing high price alcohol and worse, feasting voraciously on grilled chicken and beef steak and fish fry... whatever. Tell me, who keeps count of all the magic that is lost, has fallen on deaf ears... because one can't bite chunks of tandoori chicken and catch every nuance of Louis Banks' masterly piano playing at the same moment, can you? My point is, a total, transfixed attention of the listener is a jazz musician's due, it is the ethereal magic bond that is the real thrill and reward of the 'live' music experience.
But hey, we live in a mobile phone, SMS, bluetooth age that has reduced most things to trivial rating - so what's the big deal if i miss out a 30-second or 20-minute chunk of Louis Banks' performance? I can go to the music store and buy a Banks CD and listen when i have the time.
Until the early 90s, even rock music was staged 'live' at Nehru Hall and such - with 5/6 or more bands and housefull audiences content to be seated (not always) in rows, music was in perfect spotlight, the only focus, the only reason for the 1000 or so accommodated within the hall. Why can't it happen today7
Oh, i presume, the music is not all - i guess the urban jazz buff thinks it more important to be able to say, 'hey, caught the Banks gig last night, cool maaaan' rather than be so blown away by the music, so as to be reduced to speechlessness...
Shucks, what world do you inhabit, sudheer? i ask myself - this message is way too long, much too obscure, much too out-of-sync with the happening performers promoters and moolah-makers that keep cash registers jingling. Yes, there's loads of bucks to be made - and if the jazz fan of today needs carnivorous (meats) and spirit-ual (read alcoholic) bodily nourishment to make the cerebral mind-bending difficult essence of jazz more palatable and enjoyable, so be it... but please don't call it a 'rocking' jazz performance - don't call it jazz, it's only party time, having a good well-fed well-oiled time is what it's all about. [img]

Interesting capture of the scene (or lack thereof) as it stands today.

While "serious concert jazz" still happens fairly often in Pune (Eric Truffaz, Madhav Chari and several others performed over the last couple of years in places such as the Mazda Hall, and there was a first-class trio from Martinique at the Bal Gandharva Rangmandir last year, courtesy Alliance Francaise, that performed to an audience of 40-odd), it does not draw significant listenership, or offer any performance incentives for local musicians. These gigs, some of which have certainly been musically exciting, are funded by resident diplomatic missions, foreign cultural bodies and so on. Any Indian band approaching these venues (I know, I've tried) is welcome to perform - free of charge.

I don't believe there is any incentive for young musicians in the country to approach the jazz idiom and immerse themselves in its rich musical tradition, pushing their musical abilities towards excellence. For anyone here who cares enough about music to puruse it as a career, jazz is a highly unrenumerative and unsatisfying area to look into. It demands a high level of learning and skill development, and indeed, "musical understanding", with the accompanying investment in time, equipment, learning resource and recorded material, and if there is neither payback or appreciation, why should musicians bother?

From my own experience, if one has a comfortable day job and sufficient money to invest in the recreational pursuit of jazz, along with the required motivation, one could become a jazz player with some ability. Of course, the money recovered from gigs cannot ever offset the investment (but then it is a hobby, right?) and taudiences will forever put a greater priority on their tandoori chicken, but that doesn't matter if you are a hobbyist. For me, the last couple of years have been worth the investment purely because playing serious jazz with a good ensemble has been a great experience, even at times when not a single person in the audience cares the least bit what you're playing. I've even been asked - "I hope your band is not playing 'experimental' music?"

Of course, there are only a few of us privileged few with the means to support our jazz hobby. For those listeners and promoters who bemoan the sheer lack of a flourishing, vibrant jazz scene in India (and, in most cases, draw an unconscious qualitative dividing line between Indian and foreign performers anyway), I can only say - that's the way it is and that's how it is going to be. There just aren't enough dedicated jazz musicians and supportive listeners in India to form a critical mass, to encourage the proliferation of high-level jazz, to give musicians a reason to put in the effort, to give more venues a reason to put the music on a higher footing than their cuisine.

I've been around Pune for almost a couple of decades and know many of the great players we've had here from several age groups. Some of the older guys have had the opportunity to look into jazz and play it professionally along with their mainstream careers (not always in music), though we rarely get to hear them any more. As for the younger set, though there is obvious respect for the jazz idiom, there are no routes or reasons to teach themselves the craft.

While I continue to work seriously at my music in both the classical and jazz genres, I don't have much hope of a jazz scene reviving any time soon.

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