Jazz saxophonist Carl Clements's passage to Indian music through bansuri
Carl's latest visit to India, this July, came after a seven-year-gap. 'First there was a break due to the pandemic, and then, I had other commitments,' he says. While attending classes regularly, he also met his friends from the Mumbai jazz community, besides playing at two shows at the BlueBop Café, a jazz-themed venue in suburban Khar. Says Carl, 'Adrian D'Souza (drummer) is an old friend and he invited me when he heard I was coming down.' Carl, thus played with guitarist Sanjay Divecha, in the first show, and with Adrian, keyboardist Rahul Wadhwani and bassist Shashank Das in both shows.
Carl shares an interesting story about his Indian music journey. Growing up in Chelmsford, near Boston, he was 'surrounded by jazz' because of his father's fondness for the genre. Carl took to pianist Dave Brubeck and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and soon decided to learn the saxophone. He learnt from Jerry Bergonzi and followed his advice of practising six hours a day. Later, he learnt from saxophonists George Garzone and Joe Viola.
While studying music further, at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, and the California Institute of the Arts, Carl wanted to find out what else was happening in the world of improvisation. That's what drew him towards Indian music. 'I had read that John Coltrane (noted saxophonist) liked Indian music, especially Pt. Ravi Shankar. I told myself, if Coltrane likes Indian music, so should I', shares Carl, who currently teaches saxophone and improvisation, besides being a jazz combo coach at Amherst College, Massachusetts.
Carl recalls how his friend, who was studying South Indian music, shared with him some veena recordings. 'I slowly started exploring Indian music and gravitated towards Hindustani. In California, I met Amiya Dasgupta, a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar. Though he played the sitar, he taught me singing and theory. I met his former disciple, David Philipson, who got me started on the bansuri. This was around 1989 and more in line with my music,' he adds.
Carl also learnt the bansuri from Steve Gorn in California and says, he 'never thought of visiting India to learn', but, things changed when his wife, also an artiste, received a Fulbright grant. Though she spent time in the south, Carl accompanied her but stayed in Mumbai. He met American bassist Dee Wood, who introduced him to composer Dinshah Sanjana of the fusion band — Divya. 'Dinshah invited me to play with Divya where I met bassist Sanjay Swamy, aka Storms, at his recording studio. One thing led to another and I met other jazz musicians. Ranjit Barot introduced me to Louis Banks and suddenly, I was playing with all of them. Yet, the main purpose of my visit to India was to learn the bansuri.'
The search for a guru led Carl to flautist Devendra Murdeshwar, son-in-law of the legendary flautist Pannalal Ghosh. 'He hadn't been keeping well, so I couldn't learn from him. I had met Nityanandji, who studied with Murdeshwar and later with Annapurna Devi. They all belong to Baba Alauddin Khan's tradition, so everything fit in.'
Carl says he has not made a conscious effort to regularly blend Indian music into his jazz compositions. 'Indian music is vast, and I don't believe in just taking a bit and adding it to my tunes. As such, I take my training seriously. But there are pieces that are inspired by Indian music, or use of the bansuri. I was in the group, Sundar Shor, where I played the bansuri on jazz compositions. I have played pieces based on raag Shree and Desh in a jazz setting. In my latest album A Different Light, a piece called 'Sanyog' has a strong Indian element. In the same album, 'Good Luck, Bad Luck (Who Knows)', has the bansuri.'
According to Carl, the trend of American musicians using Indian influences is not as common as it was five decades ago. 'Musicians are exposed to many global forms, they can experiment with various styles. There are some who do it, like drummer Dan Weiss who has made tabla a part of his language. There's the bansuri player Jay Gandhi, guitarist Rez Abbasi and a collective called Brooklyn Raga Massive. I also notice that more musicians get attracted to Carnatic music, especially the rhythms.'
His own focus is on jazz. After returning to the U.S., he plans to complete his next album. Will it have any influence from his Indian musical learnings? 'These things aren't planned, they just happen. We improvise.' he smiles. Let's wait and watch.
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