You can always identify a jazz buff by how they rhapsodise about Ellington while pouring themselves a single malt (come on, we all know there’s a correlation), and how they close their eyes and move as the brass notes wash over them. They’re not the ones in queue for Coldplay tickets, and they can’t sing along with the Swifties. But they know their Davis from their Coltrane in a second. And on a nippy weekend at the end of November, the capital’s jazz lovers brave 421 on the AQI and unrelenting traffic to head to Gurugram’s Horizon Plaza to watch their favourite indie bands live at The Jazz India Circuit (JIC).
It is ironic to see the severe air quality act as a filter; it strains out the bored public that might ordinarily be milling around the piazza in search of something to amuse themselves with before dinner. Instead, it’s a crowd that truly cares about the music—an energy that is palpable the moment Refuge, led by pianist Aman Mahajan, takes the stage.
This is the seventh edition of the jazz festival that has, over the years, acquired a cult following in the city. This edition has a spectacular line-up including Tamara Lukasheva ft Shri Adarsh Shenoy, The Revisit Project, The Fanculos, Imon, Refuge, The Princely States Dub Orchestra, and the Bollyjazz Big Band. Over two days, the bands roll in one after the next, as The Glenlivet bar turns out signature cocktails (confirming my single malt theory) with kababs and baby burgers on the grill.
The crowd shows up in sharp winter tweeds, leather moto jackets, and fun faux furs. People sport wild shocks of white hair and lip piercings in triplicate. Clearly a crowd of originals, whether musician or patron—they seem to fit in by not quite fitting in.
“There was a lot of jazz playing in the background when I was a child—it was part of my diet,” says actor Vidushi Mehra. “I drove an hour and a half to be here,” she says from underneath the cosy sheath of her woolly muffler. Mehra compares her love for jazz, music built around defiance, to her anti-fashion fashion. “You know, I don’t really shop! I have jeans and jackets from forever...I’m fairly minimalist; that’s definitely an anomaly in a city like Delhi.”
Musician Rahul Joshua Thomas, who plays with both Princely States Dub Orchestra and Bollyjazz Big Band, recalls that, growing up, he was seen as a bit of a weirdo for playing the trombone. “It’s quite unique because, well, nobody knew the instrument that I play,” he laughs. “But I guess it’s become my calling card now.” The only thing weirder than his instrument of choice is his collection of objects at home that includes mannequin heads and misshapen one-pound ducks that he found at Camden Market in London.
Cheering Thomas on at the festival is Bengaluru-based fashion designer Priyanka Jain. “He’s fantastic! Jazz has been my family’s Sunday tradition. We would sit down for lunch with jazz blasting out on the music console. They’re both from the Air Force, and it was a big part of their own circles. I guess, it trickled down to me,” says Jain, who is obsessed with the past, both in her musical taste and her design. “I love working through the decades in my work, as well as my music—the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s in particular. I feel like I’m very happily stuck in the past.”
Singer-songwriter Imon, clearly a crowd favourite, starts the night on a low, sexy key—creating the perfect sundowner for an autumnal evening. He tells me how, growing up in Assam, the soft-serve swirl of his training in Hindustani classical music and an adolescent discovery of rock led him to his current sound. “That’s how everyone’s music forms, from a collision of influences. My stuff ends up being about a lot of things I fear—time, hope, second chances—but not in a pessimistic way.”
My personal highlight of the night? Intercepting Refuge as they’re rushing off to the airport. Pianist Aman Mahajan tells me how he “likes word games and numbers, and mixing that with music.” He then cheekily asks, “What’s the last four digits of your phone number?” He goes on to compose a song around it and serenade me with a tune!
The thing about a weekend of jazz is that it lets you into a world where the music is great and is celebrated almost as much as the quirks and oddities of the outliers around.
