Charu Suri: Raga Rag No. 1 (Bhimpalas)

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 No.1 (Bhimpalas)" is the first single from her fourth album, Rags and Ragas. The sound is ancient India steeped in the newer music from the birthplace of American jazz. Featuring an all-star cast of American artists, including Joe Lastie, the Preservation Hall Band's drummer, and bassist John Patitucci.

Suri's piano opens with a stately feeling; Patitucci's bass zings (something basses do not usually do) in front of some of Suri's tasteful and adroit comping, and keyboardist Kobi Arad supplies a brilliant and extended Fender Rhodes solo that brings Herbie Hancock (in his stint in the second great Miles Davis Quintet) to mind.

This cut leans perhaps more to the American side of sound than it does to the Indian; Joe Lastie is kicking it, big time, all the time, and Suri's piano work is majestically beautiful. We talk of the "Latin tinge." Here we have the Indian tinge on a terrific Indo-American jazz tune.

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