Indo Jazz

By Nishan

You’ve heard of disco, rap, rock and even pop music. You’ve heard of classical music, and you’ve heard of jazz music, but have you heard of Indo Jazz. This interesting music style is a mix of jazz, classical music and to make it even more unique, you will also find strains of Indian music thrown in for good measure.

First off you need to understand that with Indo Jazz you have a blend of different musical styles. You may hear jazz tunes with some classical musical instruments playing an Indian rhythm. On the other hand you might hear Indian music which is the background for jazz music done in a classical style. In short with Indo Jazz you will find a musical style that improvises at every step that it can.

Before you start wondering how come you have never heard of this musical style ask yourself if have heard of or even listened to music by John Myer, Alice Coltrane, and Joe Harriet to name but a few maestros of Indo Jazz.

Even though many artists may decide to improvise with this music there are a few rules which do need to be observed. The rule is to make sure that the audience will love the music they hear. The next rule is to make sure that all of the sounds – Indian, jazz and classical – meld together harmoniously. Once the music style sounds great then you are ready to give the jazz some soul stirring words which will catch the attention of people.

So the next time you hear some jazz music which sounds partly Indian and partly classical in nature you will know that you are in the presence of Indo Jazz.

Below is an offering of Indo Jazz from the famous Alice Coltrane.