Kathak (1998)
Trilok Gurtu

CD FRONT

DETAILS:
Artwork pictured: CD front
Label: Escapade
Released March 23, 1998
Trilok Gurtu has Indian origins

'Ganapati' written by Trilok Gurtu/Jaya Deva/Michael Quartermain
'Ganapati', also called 'Cherrytown' is to pay tribute to Don Cherry who had collaborated with Trilok Gurtu

CATALOGUE:

  • CD ESC03655 
    1. Ganapati
    2. You Remember This
    3. Seven Brings Return
    4. Shunyai
    5. Who Knows The Mind
    6. Kathak
    7. Brazilian

REVIEW:
The opening track, 'Ganapati', begins with a leaps-and-bounds blues bass riff which just happens to be played on the ganawa, a low-pitched, single-course folk lute - an almost casual shuffling of instrumental conventions which is entirely par for the course as far as this virtuoso percussionist and his group are concerned. While there are far too many instances of performers force-feeding musical traditions one with another in the hope that something interesting will result, Trilok Gurtu has the rare ability not only to deal with the musical components of a wide range of traditions - Indian, Latin and African music, jazz and more besides - but to reassemble them into something genuinely new and fresh. His remarkable career associations include Charlie Mariano, Don Cherry, Barre Phillips, John McLaughlin and a host of other innovative kindred spirits, but he is at his best when leading his own group. This recording made by this incarnation, The Glimpse (not 'The Glimps' as one baffled critic insisted) is an excellent example.
by Roger Thomas