| Date & Hour: Saturday 2nd May 9.00pm |
Because jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi was born in Pakistan, studied in India, grew up in Los Angeles, and has been an active figure on the New York jazz scene for nearly 20 years, it's safe to say he's the prime example of what it takes to have a genuinely global sound.
Trying to hang a genre handle on Abbasi is nearly impossible.
As a player he is eloquent, his concentrated playing style is descended from icons such as Pat Metheny, and he blends aspects of soul with Indian music, post bop, and hints of Ornette Coleman-style free jazz as well.
Abbasi is now considered to be one of the foremost modern jazz guitar players on today's scene. He has developed a unique sound both as a composer and an instrumentalist, and has performed and recorded with many jazz greats including, Grammy winner Ruth Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Greg Osby and a host of others.
His group, featuring Gary Versace on Hammond organ, and Dan Weiss on drums/tabla are joined by Juno award winning vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia - a jazz star in her own right.
Ahluwalia focuses on the Indian genres of ghazal and Punjabi folk music and Abbasi, who is her musical director and producer, hews closely to Indian musical conventions.
'... a dazzling musical star - her singing of love, longing and loss is poignant and utterly captivating' - Jazz Review |
