Trilok Gurtu : Improvised Funk from the East

Trilok Gurtu

 The musical traditions of the eastern and western worlds are bridged through the improvisations of Bombay, India-born percussionist/vocalist Trilok Gurtu. Gurtu's mastery of post-bop jazz has not gone unnoticed. Downbeat magazine named him "best percussionist" in three critic and popularity polls and proclaimed, "Musically, the world is his stage". Jazz magazine, Straight No Chaser took a similar view, writing, "this music has a transcendental quality and removes any obstacles that lie between western and eastern improvised music." Gurtu's eclectic approach has enabled him to collaborate with some of the world's greatest musicians. A world class, virtuoso percussionist, now in his mid-fifties, Trilok has attracted a world class set of collaborators over a long career. Trilok Gurtu was born into a highly musical family in Bombay, India where his grandfather was a noted Sitar player and his mother Shobha Gurtu, a classical singing star and constant influence. He began to play practically from infancy at the age of six. Eventually Trilok traveled to Europe, joining up with trumpeter Don Cherry (father of Neneh and Eagle Eye) for two years; touring worldwide with Oregon, the highly respected jazz group and was an important part of the quartet that L. Shankar led with Jan Garbarek and Zakir Hussain.

In 1988 Trilok performed with his own group, finally being able to present his compositions on the debut album “Usfret” which many musicians claim as an important influence; young Asian musicians from London like Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation and Nitin Sawhney see him as a mentor and so Trilok’s work finds its way onto the turntables at dance clubs years later. But back in 1988 Trilok met The Mahavishnu Orchestra and its leader, JohnMcLaughlin and for the next four years played an integral part in The John McLaughlin Trio.

Trilok Gurtu

In 1993 Trilok toured his own trio in support of the album “The Crazy Saints”, which featured not only Joe Zawinul but also Pat Metheny. Audiences were enthralled by his compositions that linked subtle Indian rhythms and Indian singing with elements of modern jazz and rock. The following year the band was expanded to a quartet and touring extended to include a US coast-to-coast tour and 40+ European shows. Band tours continued annually establishing Trilok Gurtu as a regular and popular visitor to many European and US cities; his group, The Glimpse was formed in 1996 which grew from his musical roots in India’s timeless acoustic tradition. By the late 90’s they were touring worldwide and appearing in Festivals where he performed alongside the megastars of the entertainment business (Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, REM) as well as his colleagues in the World Music scene like Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal, Cesaria Evora and Salif Keita. The “Kathak”,“African Fantasy” and “Beat of Love” cds came about in 1998/9, 2000/1 as a direct result of these years: Trilok’s music entered a distinctly World Music setting. - a new sound that contained the core of his previous works but expanded on it allowing guest singers like Neneh Cherry, Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo and Oumou Sangare to display their talents on Trilok’s own recordings.

When Trilok hit the live performance circuit in 2000 and 2001, audiences saw the group with special guest appearances by Nitin Sawhney, Angelique Kidjo, Salif Keita and “The Beat of Love” producer Wally Badarou in New York and London. In between group performances he appeared at a number of prestigious solo percussion recitals and gave guest performances on albums by John McLaughlin, Pharoah Sanders, Nitin Sawhney, Lalo Schifrin, Gilberto Gil, Bill Laswell & Annie Lennox.

The release of “Remembrance” in 2002 was a major milestone for Trilok. The guests Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain, Ronu Majumdar and Shobha Gurtu gave superb performances. Combined with extensive touring across Europe and especially Scandinavia, this led to Trilok’s second nomination for the BBC World Music Awards and for an EMMA. 2003 saw a wide variety of over 50 performances all over the globe from Trilok Gurtu in quartet, trio and solo formats. His first collaboration in an orchestral piece took place in Koln in October, with the World Premiere of “Chalan” written especially for him by Maurizio-Sotelo. In 2004, Gurtu teamed up with DJ Robert Miles on the excellent Miles_Gurtu.

No musician has done more than Trilok Gurtu to blend the subtleties of Eastern and Western music to create something original, dynamic and compelling. His willingness to experiment and go beyond the bounds of conventional music is a testament of his versatility.