The Beatles may have been on to something.....

Over the last few years I've collected a bit of jazz with an east Indian vibe. I think it started with John McLaughlin, then I picked up some Shakti, etc.

A few weeks ago I was listening to the Jazz and Beyond podcast while at work and that week's program was based on Indian influenced jazz and I've listened to it several times, and even ordered a couple of CDs from the playlist of that show. See http://www.jazzandbeyond.com/ and scroll down to June 7.

I have played the crap out of the Fareed Haque CD I ordered, and right now for the 3rd night in a row I'm playing one of the records from "Miles From India", which includes original Miles Davis sidemen Chick Corea and (of course) John McLaughlin as well as an assortment of Indian studio musicians.

To me the music is fresh and exotic. Some of the stuff I'm hearing just makes my head snap up to look for the musicians.....

Anyone else like this genre?

Well, you're definitely a candidate for appreciating "Indo-Jazz Suite" by the Joe Harriott Double Quintet (under the direction of John Mayer). I got my copy of this 1966 Atlantic LP at a local used record store, but I believe I've seen it on eBay. It's great.

--Bob

Sounds cool.

I've been enjoying that flavor of jazz for the last year or two myself. I have the Miles in India title as well as several others of similar flavor. Try Anouar Brahem, John Surman and Dave Holland - Thimar or Jan Garbarek/Usted Fateh Ali Khan & Musicians from Pakistan - Ragas and Sagas.

Thanks for the link.

Christian McBride & Inside Straight - Kind Of Brown. I seriously need to check this album out.

Thanks guys and keep the suggestions coming.

This kind of reminds me of how I "learned about" jazz in the first place - before Al Gore invented the intarweb. We have an FM station KBEM that plays jazz, so I got some ideas there, and the rest is reading liner notes. Jazz is unique (I think) in that so many headlining musicians sit in as studio help for other musicians.

I will be checking out the suggestions.

And I just put on Disc 3 from Miles to India!

Thanks for the jazz and beyond link. I really like the Fareed Haque "Flat Planet" cd. I'll be checking out some of the other recommendations made here.

Try the Shankar solo albums on ECM, which he did after the Shakti LPs. "Who's To Know" is a great LP. I would not really call it jazz, but it is fantastic.

Well I would definitely have to second the Indo-Jazz Suite by the Joe Harriott Double Quintet. That is some great stuff.
Have you ever checked out anything by Ahmed Abdul-Malik? He has some great middle-eastern inflected jazz albums, and you can pick up some re-issued vinyl versions from the JazzMart in Chicago for a pretty reasonable price. I think you might really enjoy his world jazz flavor.
If you are feeling a bit more adventurous, I would definitely recommend Don Cherry's later stuff, or on an even more adventurous path, John Zorn's Masada group. I have heard Masada described as somewhat Ornette-ish, but with a middle eastern inflected rhythm section. I am not sure how I would describe it myself, as it tends to run the gamut. Zorn can really burn on the alto at times, so it is definitely not for the faint of heart. My wife will tell me how much she loves one track of his, and then the next track has her running to turn it off. An interesting listen to open ears at the very least, though!
Have you heard Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds album? That is another great one.
I'll try and think of some others that might be in the same vein and let you know what I come up with...

Trilok Gurtu has some excellent discs. How about "Oregon" with Ralph Towner and Colin Walcott. Colin Walcott's Cloud Dance LP with John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette is terrific. McLaughlin's One Truth Band in 79' (Electric Dreams) with Shankar is excellent. As well as the above mentioned. I saw the original Shakti several times in the mid-70's. Some of my favorite shows for sure, CB

You might like:
www.theradio.com

Go to the bottom of the screen, click on channels, then select World-Middle East.

Pick up Rudresh Mahanthappa's latest on Pi. It is a fantastic and critically acclaimed jazz cd, from an Indian American who has gotten in touch with his roots.

I was just thinking about some more albums and the previous ECM mention by Cactus Bob regarding Collin Walcott reminded me of some of his other great albums and projects (Walcott's, not Cactus Bob's...). His Grazing Dreams album on ECM is another great one, and he was also part of a group called Codona along with Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos. The name Codona came from the first part of each of their first names (just fun trivia), there are three albums (Codona 1, 2 & 3) and the music is absolutely incredible. Once again, a bit adventurous at times, but the three musicians really mesh well and the final product is fantastic. The albums shouldn't be too hard to find either, especially on CD. Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for contributing. I'm keeping a running total of what is recommended and I have *'d the ones I've already ordered. Just for fun, I also +'d the ones I already own.

Any comments on the following? I'll eventually include them with the listing. But for now, I have some yard work to do. :(

+Various - Miles From India
*Rudresh Mahanthappa Kinsmen
*Joe Harriott Double Quintet Indo-Jazz Suite
Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Don Cherry
John Zorn's Masada
Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds album
"Oregon" with Ralph Towner and Colin Walcot
Collin Walcott - Grazing Dreams
*Colin Walcott's Cloud Dance
Codona - 1, 2 & 3
+McLaughlin's One Truth Band in 79' (Electric Dreams)
Shankar solo albums on ECM I would not really call it jazz, but it is fantastic
+Fareed Haque "Flat Planet"
*Anouar Brahem, John Surman and Dave Holland - Thimar
Jan Garbarek/Usted Fateh Ali Khan & Musicians from Pakistan - Ragas and Sagas


Online listening:
www.theradio.com - Go to the bottom of the screen, click on channels, then select World-Middle East.

Trilok Gurtu has some excellent discs. How about "Oregon" with Ralph Towner and Colin Walcott. Colin Walcott's Cloud Dance LP with John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette is terrific. McLaughlin's One Truth Band in 79' (Electric Dreams) with Shankar is excellent. As well as the above mentioned. I saw the original Shakti several times in the mid-70's. Some of my favorite shows for sure, CB

Yea! my 13 year old son is a big McLaughlin/Coryell freak and he learned how to play Low Lee Ta and 5 in the morning 6 in the afternoon. The kid has been playing for 2 years!

I am learning a lot about Theory from him!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sithconnor watch the video from last year of us doing ya know ya know july 24th 2008 I think.

Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds album is very good, one of my favs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Horn_(jazz_musician)

If you want one: I got Paul horn - Taj Mahal to give away

Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds album is very good, one of my favs.
Thanks for the heads up on this one, very cool sounds.

Coltrane, Live at the Village Vanguard. One of the songs entitled "India." It has been said that My Favorite Things was pattern on Indian ragas.

And he did it 6 years before the Beatles did it.

Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds is my all-time favourite in this genre for sure but just yesterday I was listening to the fine Norwegian tenor saxist Lars Moller's Kaleidoscope album on the Naxos Jazz label. His drummer, Ole Theill, doubles on tabla and Lars himself studied the shehnai (cf oboe) in India. Great music making, worth seeking out.

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=86022-2

You might also like to investigate a couple of titles on Water Lily Acoustics (in addition to the famous Ry Cooder/Vishwa Mohan Bhatt disc):

L. Subramaniam (violin) & Larry Coryell (guitar) — 'From the Ashes'
James Newton (flute) & Kadri Golpalnath (saxophone) — 'Southern Brothers'

http://www.waterlilyacoustics.com

I really want to thank everyone who has pitched in on this thread with all of the awesome music suggestions.

While not my "all time favorite" genre of music, it sure is interesting and inventive - at least to my mind.

Discovering new music is a lot of fun - it seems that I can hardly listen to "classic rock" any more.

Eastern Sounds by Lateef is one of my most treasured discoveries from when I, a young rock'n'rollah, stumbled upon the world of jazz back in the early 70s. Lateef plays a variety of exotic instruments on the album, and it is an all time, stone cold classic of the quiet jazz idiom. not quiet as in 'smooth' (yech) but as in 'meditative, moody, spiritual, questing for the invisible'-- the killer on the album, to me, is 'Love Theme from Spartacus' in which Lateef floats the most haunting melodic line you've ever heard from the oboe.

also, check out early Alice Coltrane stuff for an indo-jazz flavor. awesome stuff

I first became enamored with Indian music watching Michael Palin's old PBS show, "Great Railway Adventures." The show with Michael riding with other passengers on top of the passenger car has an amazing musical soundtrack. I love Indian percussion and particularly, tablas.

John McLaughlin's latest, "Floating Point," is pretty good too. But I really enjoyed the separate DVD of John in the studio in India actually recording Floating Point. The DVD is called "Meeting of the Minds - The Making of Floating Point." The drummer on that DVD is just amazing (Ranjit Barot) as is seeing how the musicians communicate ideas in the studio. Here's a review of Floating Point: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29357

I saw John (and Chic Corea) and the 5 Peace Band last spring in Champaign, IL and was honored to have met John personally after the show via a friend who corresponds with John (he formerly worked with John's brother). I posted a pic of John with his arm around me elsewhere here on AK. Nicest guy you could ever meet. Christian McBride and Brian Blades were incredible too.

John McLaughlin's latest, "Floating Point," is pretty good too. But I really enjoyed the DVD of John in the studio in India actually recording "Floating Point." The drummer on Floating Point is just amazing (Ranjit Barot) as is how the musicians communicate ideas in the studio. Here's a review of Floating Point: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29357

I saw John (and Chic Corea) and the 5 Peace Band last spring in Champaign, IL and was honored to have met John personally after the show via a friend who corresponds with John (he formerly worked with John's brother). I posted a pic of John with his arm around me elsewhere here on AK. Nicest guy you could ever meet. Christian McBride and Brian Blades were incredible too.

I'll have to get the floating point DVD . . .

The DVD John Mclaughlin and the 4th Dimension Live in Belgrade is awesome!!! John's better then ever!!!
Mark Mondesir Drums, Dominique di Piazza Bass, Gary Husband Keys & Drums and they will be touring in 2010!!! :thmbsp:

Here's an extract from the DVD I mentioned above but it doesn't do the whole DVD justice: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x53gn7_meeting-of-the-minds-john-mclaughli_music

McLaughlin appeared at the Majestic Theater in Dallas in 1976, a show I attended with really great seats. it was during the all white suit/double neck guitar era. it was one of THE most crushingly loud things i've ever attended. the kind of thing that would make you pass out...contributory i am sure to my tinnitus....

i thought it was great.