60 Years Old

For the last 10 years I have systematically revised all my spiritual influences. They remain a constant inspiration to me. They are primarly:

Karen Armstrong and her affection for the mystic dimension of Islam and the Sufis. One can hear the beauty of this dimension in the Qawwali music of the Rizwan-Muazzam group, or the even better known, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan recordings.

The writings of Carlos Castaneda on the subject of Don Juan and Don Gennaro.

The translations of the great Taoist, Chuang Tzu by Father Thomas Merton, himself a great inspiration to me.

The works of D.T. Suzuki on the subject of Zen and the Japanese Mind.

D.E. Harding with his writings on the true nature of the Universe and Consciousness.

Aldous Huxley, especially his treaty on Religion and Politics in the book Grey Eminence.

The Chan poetry from China from the 6th to the 17th centuries.

The sayings of Ramana Maharshi.

The sayings of Sri Ramakrishna and his most celebrated disciples : Brahmanada and Vivekananda.

Fritjof Capra and The Tao of Physics.

Last but by no means least, the great Alan Watts and his works on the elucidation of Zen for the Western mind, and his other works on Asian thought.

My musical influences have tended to follow a similar path in the sense that I am constantly recapitulating my own musical past and the musical history of my principal influences.

I have the feeling that to go one step forward in music, I frequently have to take two steps backward.

Over the last 10 years however, I have been sometimes disappointed by the general lack of imagination and innovation in Jazz Music. There has been a very powerful wave of retrospection on the part of the main record companies, with the result that groups emulating the ’sound’ and playing techniques of the 1960s have to some degree, dominated the CD Jazz shelves in stores, furthemore, this phenomenon has exerted an enormous influence on the younger players to remain based in the music of the 1960s , with the result that a stultifying effect has been created, inhibiting more daring and innovative music in Jazz.

Because of this, I have found myself drawn more and more to the “underground” music scene, where forms such as “Jungle”, “Acid Jazz”, “Drums ‘n’ Bass”, “Hip-Hop”, and even “Rap” are being invented by musicians, frequently without much musical training, but by consequence, no limit on their imaginations. The results are not always good, but quite often one can find recordings that are astonishing in conception and imagination, and in the end, IMAGINATION is the Key Word.

63 Years Old

Wow, already 3 years since I last wrote. 3 years full of work, music and living. After the 2 enormous projects “Thieves and Poets” and “This Is The Way I Do It” I thought I would be through with “Magnus Opus” stuff - but music has other plans… After finishing the Shakti Documentary DVD I am again putting an enormous amount of work into the new “underground” CD which will be released in 2006. I never seem to learn…

65 Years Old

Well it’s 2007, and time has flown by again. “Industrial Zen” came out in 2006, and was not panned too much by the critics, in fact a lot of them liked it! God bless ‘em all! I had hoped for more ‘fusion’ criticism, but I have the impression that fusion music is unloading its bad reputation more and more. So much the better for me! In November 2006 I left for India for a tour with Shakti. At the end of the year I was joined by my family in Chennai, India for an extended stay of 6 months. This has been a kind of dream for Ina and me, in view of our profound affection for that country, its people and culture. The time we spent in India was full of activities even though we had planned otherwise. But we also had the opportunity of visiting many sacred sites during this time in South India. One of the most moving experiences we had was the visit to Arunachala, the place where Ramana Maharshi spent his life. This was a dream come true for me to visit the cave where he spent many years in profound contemplation and realization since Ramana Maharshi was the first ‘holy’ man whose photograph I saw at the age of about 22, and it changed me forever. February 3rd is the day of ‘Abbaji.’ This the name given to tabla genius Allah Rakha, who passed away on this day 7 years ago. Every year, Zakir Hussain creates a free- to-the-public concert, and many musicians come to play, to honor the memory of his father. I was honored to be invited again, and played with Zakir, drummers Ranjit Barot and Eric Harlan, and saxophonist George Brooks.
By the middle of February, I was in a writing ‘frenzy’, and by the end of the month had written enough music to record a CD. It wasn’t planned, but in April I went into the studio with a rhythm section consisting of drummer Ranjit Barot, keyboardist Louiz Banks, and percussionist Sivamani. All of them outstanding musicians who grew up in India, but are totally at home in jazz-fusion.

In addition I invited 7 of the new young lions as co-soloists, each appearing in a piece with me. On top of that, Ina had the inspired idea to video-tape the sessions, so we could make a DVD about the ‘Making of a Fusion Recording’. These will be coming out in the next 3 months.

Leaving India at the beginning of july was difficult for the three of us. Within a couple of weeks we were all in Chicago for the ‘Crossroads’ Festival organized by Eric Clapton. He is doing great charitable work, and it was a real pleasure to participate in it. I had a quartet with keyboardist Gary Husband, Matthew Garrison on Bass-guitar and the inimitable Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.

By early September I was on tour again with a new group The 4th Dimension.