SNJO looks east for spicy musical adventures
Trilok Gurtu (publicity photo)
The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra broadens its horizons with a series of concerts entitled 21 Spices and featuring the sensational Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu in Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh from 28th to 30th March.
The son of vocalist Shobha Gurtu, a legendary figure in Indian classical music known as the Thumri Queen, Trilok Gurtu has won an international reputation for his work with guitarists John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny, saxophonists Jan Garbarek and Pharoah Sanders and keyboardist Joe Zawinul. He has also appeared with world music stars Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, Omara Portuondo, and Tuvan throat singers, Huun Huur Tu and has recorded and toured with Italian virtuosi, the Arke String Quartet.
A formally trained percussionist, Gurtu has developed a highly expressive, completely individual playing style, incorporating tabla, a customised drum kit, an array of shakers and gongs, and a bucket of water with which he creates myriad tones and timbres.
For SNJO founder-artistic director, saxophonist Tommy Smith, working with Gurtu offers an opportunity to return an invitation that saw Smith touring America and Europe with Gurtu in the 1990s.
“Following the release of Trilok’s Bad Habits Die Hard album, from which 21 Spices takes its name, he asked me to join his band on tour,” says Smith. “It was an unforgettable experience. Trilok is a genuinely unique musician and his music is exciting and brilliantly imaginative. This will take the SNJO and our audience into a sound world that’s very different to the one generally occupied by orchestral jazz. It’s a very exciting prospect.”
Gurtu’s compositions have been arranged for the SNJO by the German percussionist, pianist, composer and conductor, Wolf Kerschek, who has worked in situations from jazz big bands and philharmonic orchestras to conducting football’s World Cup anthem and participating in Sesame Street.
“Kerschek is an amazingly versatile musician and arranger and we’re really looking forward to bringing his orchestrations of Trilok’s music to the stage,” says Smith. “Knowing his work and having played with Trilok, I’m sure these concerts will be exhilarating events.”
Tour details
Friday 28th March, 7:30pm - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Saturday 29th March, 7:30pm - Perth Concert Hall
Sunday 30th March, 7:30pm - Edinburgh Queen's Hall
Beautiful Storm breaks over Scotland
Beautiful Storm photo by Douglas Robertson
Saxophonist Phil Bancroft takes his new trio, The Beautiful Storm on tour in Scotland from Wednesday 19th to Saturday 22nd March, with a Newcastle date at the Cluny on Tuesday 18th ahead of the trio's Aberdeen Jazz Festival concert the following evening.
Featuring Bancroft with guitarist Graeme Stephen and Delhi-based percussionist Gyan Singh, the group released its first album, Finding Hope (When All Seems Lost) on Bancroft's Myriad Streams platform towards the end of 2024 and has received enthusiastic responses from critics and radio presenters internationally.
Following the Cluny in Newcastle on Tuesday 18th, the trio plays the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen on Wednesday 19th, An Tobar on the island of Mull on Thursday 20th, the St Brides Centre in Edinburgh on Friday 21st and Resolis Community Arts on Saturday 22nd.
"I'm really looking forward to playing some live dates with the trio," says Bancroft. "I was happy with the way the album turned out and I've been really pleased with the reaction it's had. We're already looking ahead to playing further dates later in the year."
Listen to Finding Hope (When All Seems Lost) here
