“Jazz is not just a sound or a specific set of techniques; jazz is a mindset,” Vasundhara Vidalur, the new sensation of Indian Jazz, summed up the genre of music in a single sentence last night, as an eager Dhaka audience ventured into relatively uncharted territories of jazz and blues music, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. 

Curtains rose on the first Jazz & Blues Festival Dhaka 2015 on Thursday night at the Army Museum field, with Dr. Gowher Rizvi, foreign affairs advisor to the prime minister as chief guest. Italian Ambassador Mario Palma, Brazilian Ambassador Wanja Campos da Nóbrega, Abul Khair, Chairman of Bengal Foundation and Advisor of organizers Blues Communications and Nehal Ahmed, marketing director of title sponsors Grameenphone also spoke at the inauguration. 

Imran Ahmed quintet, an ambitious jazz group from Dhaka, opened the festival with their own compositions showcasing modern jazz sounds. They opened their set with “Lights”, and went on to present “PTO to 35”, “Splash”, “Tiles of Times” and “Key-riosity”. 

Vasundhara Vidalur. Photo: Ridwan Adid Rupon

The audience settled in nicely at the venue that offered ample food and beverages, enjoying the start of the weekend in chitchat and music. Vasundhara Vidalur then took the stage, and won the hearts of many even before she started to sing when she said one of her grandmothers were born in Barisal. Opening with a surprise jazz adaptation of an all-time grunge rock classic, Nirvana's “Come As You Are”, Vasundhara put her incredible vocal range and expressions on display as she went from playful to sultry to booming big voice to downright melodious. Backed by a compact set of instrumentalists, she put the groove in the audience with numbers like “Dog Days”, “In a Turn of Events” and a vocal-added version of Joshua Redman's “Jazz Crimes”. 

The Shai Maestro Trio took the stage next, and without a fuss made it theirs in a beautiful piece titled “Girl”. Sitting between perpendicularly-placed piano and keys, he faced his drummer Ziv Ravitz, with Jorge Roeder on the double bass not too far left. In a blissful set, Shai showcased the piano's tonal and textural richness while leaving enough room for his other members to shine through. Particularly in a track called “From One Soul to Another”, his closing number “Paradox” and a piano solo sandwiched in between, music connoisseurs were left in awe of his prowess. 

Shai Maestro. Photo: Ridwan Adid Rupon

Close to midnight, the anticipation peaked as Shai Maestro left the stage, because it was time for the entire festival's headliner to come on. John McLaughlin, considered by many as the greatest jazz guitarist alive and the 49th ranked guitarist on Rolling Stones Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, kicked the concert to a new gear with the first notes he hit on his PRS. With multi-instrumentalist Gary Husband (on keys and drums), Etienne Mbappe (bass) and Ranjit Barot (drums) who form his band 4th Dimension, his display was as riveting as it was soulful. Be it tracks from his new album “Black Light” featuring insane keys and synth to more mellow numbers like “New Blues, Old Bruise”, or the two tribute numbers to his band mates from Indian Classical Music super-group Shakti, sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar (“Panditji”) and mandolin genius U Shrinivas (“Here Come the Jiis”), the 4th Dimension elevated the audience to a new high of music. 

The festival closes today, with performances by Esdras Nogueira Quartet (Brazil), China Moses (France), Soulmate (India) and AB Blues Club (Bangladesh).