Jazz Articles about Charu Suri

About Charu Suri

Album Review

To paraphrase an old saying: You can take the girl (geographically) away from the raga, but you cannot take the raga away from the girl... Pianist Chatu Suri was born in India, where the raga holds sway, and she listened to the ragas her father played on the radio. But she left her homeland and has lived in four continents. New York, at this writing, is her current home. But the raga has stayed with her, on her ...

Album Review

Charu Suri: Raga Rag No. 1 (Bhimpalas)

Read "Raga Rag No. 1 (Bhimpalas)" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 5, 2023

Pianist Charu Suri was raised in Chennai, India, a place that influenced her artistry. New Orleans, another of her influences, lies a hemisphere away. A transplant from India to the United States, Suri brought the musical roots of Hindustani (North Indian) music to her new home. When she found her way to the Big Easy, she took in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the marriage between the New Orlean sound and Indian raga began. “Raga Rag ...

Album Review

Charu Suri: Ragas & Waltzes

Read "Ragas & Waltzes" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 25, 2022

Pianist Charu Suri's father was a CEO of a record label. Suri was born in India, and has lived in four continents. Her father's profession meant that slews of records were available for her young musical ears. Her piano training was initially classical. Then, as so often happens, jazz stepped in, took a chair, and slid his pork pie hat across the table at her and smiled. This jazz encounter came about in 2018; Suri was no longer listening to ...

Under the Radar

Charu Suri: The Jazz Raga

by Karl Ackermann
March 28, 2022

The Roots of Indo-JazzJazz and Indian ragas share common ground in their traditional use of improvisation. They are often talked about in compatible terms, but Ravi Shankar, for one, did not believe that ragas could be compared to jazz improvisation. Spontaneous creation in jazz differs from the complex rhythmic structural patterns of Indian improvisation. Shankar became the embodiment of non-western music in the 1960s. Jazz enthusiasts filled his audiences, quickly adapting techniques without any serious degree of due diligence. Nevertheless, ...

Album Review

Charu Suri: The Book of Ragas Volume II

Read "The Book of Ragas Volume II" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 5, 2021

New sounds in jazz often come from countries other than America, where the music was born. Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto introduced the lilting rhythms of Brazil; the prolific pianist/bandleader Satoko Fujii brings an avant-Japanese frame of mind to the music, and .numerous Scandinavian artists--Jan Garbarek, Trygve Seim, Tord Gustavsen and the Marcin Wasilewski Trio--have introduced a Nordic cool sound. And then there is India, bringing violinists Arun Ramamurthy, Trina Basu and cellist Amali Premawardhana to mind, ...

Album Review

Charu Suri: The Book Of Ragas

Read "The Book Of Ragas" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 15, 2019

Charu Suri takes piano jazz and combines it with the sounds of her native India on The Book Of Ragas. The set is a freshening of the format, with vocalist Apoorva Mudgal, a performer of ghazals (lyric poems) and Sufi music, contributing. Suri first recording, 2019's Lollipops For For Breakfast (Amala Records), took its inspiration, in part (the title tune) from her daughter's unconventional first meal of the day request. It also offered up a beautiful cover of ...

Album Review

Charu Suri: Lollipops for Breakfast

Read "Lollipops for Breakfast" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 3, 2019

It is a funny word, “lollipop." A melodious roll of the tongue terminated by two percussive “P" sounds separated by one puff of air, ended by another. A musical word, occasionally showing up as an integral part of a song: “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," Leslie Gore's 1963 pop hit; 1958's “Lollipop" by the Chordettes; 1956's “My Boy Lollipop" from Barbie Gayle; “My Girl Lollipop," a 1982 recording by the group Bad Manners; and not forgetting “On The Good Ship Lollipop," ...