Jai Uttal takes another trans-cultural leap with this release. Traveling again along another tributary of he North-Indian fountainhead of World Music fusion, Jai blends street smart funk with the melodies and rhythms of the sub-continent. Featuring The Pagan Love Orchestra, Beggars and Saints moves from haunting vocals to trance dance beats and seductive meditations with the ease and grace of a true world master.
FOOTPRINTS is the debut album from global groove master Jai Uttal. After being enchanted by the sounds of the Asian subcontinent and completing a subsequent pilgrimage to the land itself, Uttal decided to embark on another journey - to hybridize hybrid of American music and the sonorities of the Indian landscape. As a result, smooth jazz and Indian street folk mingle in synthesized tranquility, uniting two distant cultures. An interesting aspect of the recording is that the jazz elements are often performed with Indian instrumentation and vise versa. This genre-bending means that Don Cherry's trumpet playing sounds surprisingly at home with the dotar and harmonium (especially on "Madzoub" - the brassy sound of the trumpet seems almost a better fit for the ektar than a western instrument like the piano). FOOTPRINTS lays down the groundwork for a path that Uttal is destined to follow, and what an exciting journey it looks to be.
Jai Uttal is one of the foremost innovators of Western-based Indian music. MONDO RAMA, his debut album on Narada, is an accessible mix of contemporary spiritual music - flooded with influences that range from rock and reggae to a contemporary jazz. Uttal's ecstatic chant-style lyrics give even pop-oriented fare like "Mood X" and "Exile" an uplifting, sacred feel. The instrumentation, provided by the Pagan Love Orchestra, is predominately Western, but is performed in a way that makes for an almost Eastern sound. The result is a seamless cultural blend that's easy to enjoy.
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FOOTPRINTS is the debut album from global groove master Jai Uttal. After being enchanted by the sounds of the Asian subcontinent and completing a subsequent pilgrimage to the land itself, Uttal decided to embark on another journey - to hybridize hybrid of American music and the sonorities of the Indian landscape. As a result, smooth jazz and Indian street folk mingle in synthesized tranquility, uniting two distant cultures. An interesting aspect of the recording is that the jazz elements are often performed with Indian instrumentation and vise versa. This genre-bending means that Don Cherry's trumpet playing sounds surprisingly at home with the dotar and harmonium (especially on "Madzoub" - the brassy sound of the trumpet seems almost a better fit for the ektar than a western instrument like the piano). FOOTPRINTS lays down the groundwork for a path that Uttal is destined to follow, and what an exciting journey it looks to be.
Jai Uttal is one of the foremost innovators of Western-based Indian music. MONDO RAMA, his debut album on Narada, is an accessible mix of contemporary spiritual music - flooded with influences that range from rock and reggae to a contemporary jazz. Uttal's ecstatic chant-style lyrics give even pop-oriented fare like "Mood X" and "Exile" an uplifting, sacred feel. The instrumentation, provided by the Pagan Love Orchestra, is predominately Western, but is performed in a way that makes for an almost Eastern sound. The result is a seamless cultural blend that's easy to enjoy.
