We lost another giant; the great Les Paul.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/13/obit.les.paul/

Les Paul was a truly great man. A guitar virtuoso and electronics genius, who invented multitrack recording, and made great innovations in the infancy of the electric guitar. Without him, music technology would not be what it is now.

I had an interesting meeting with Les Paul. I was working as an engineer at a radio station. During a gap in the programming schedule, I was required to play music to fill the air time. I chose Strunz & Farah; something I played regularly during this time. One day I got a phone call from a man asking what I was playing. I told him, introduced myself, and asked who he was. He said "My name is Les Paul."

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! We spoke on the phone for almost an hour, exchanging stories and thoughts. I really enjoyed this conversation. He was a really nice guy!

Rest in Peace, Les. And thanks for everything!

My collaborations with Celt Islam are bearing sweet fruit! The track "Gaza" made BBC's "Friction" Top Five List.

You can listen here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00kp1q4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/friction/tracklisting.shtml


Friction's Top Five Tracks

1. Major Lazer Hold The Line [Downtown Records]
2. Jay Dabhi & Moises Modesto Cry For Freedom [White]
3. Baljit Malwa & Pushpinder Komal Chabi [Goyal Music]
4. Sonu Ramgarhia V’s Specialist & Tru Skool & Kaka Bhaniawala Dharu Pee Ke (Mashup) [White]
5. Celt Islam Feat. Dawoud. Gaza [White]

Visit my friend Celt Islam at http://www.myspace.com/celtislam

Studying with the great Shaheed Parvez Khan was quite an experience! I learned a lot in a short time.

And I have been once again made all to aware of the imperfections of my own technique. Here, this is who I was face to face with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSodaLjgzPQ

There was one thing that amazed me. At his suggestion, we worked on a raga called Bhiravi. He began by playing it himself for about five minutes. You can't imagine how beautiful it sounded!

I've been playing it for years. yet he unfolded a great number of things within that raga that I never saw in it. And he shattered a great deal of preconceived ideas about raga. One of the main things they teach beginners is the concept of vadi (a principle note that helps give a raga its character). But he told me that the vadi concept is nonsense! And then, he played something that demonstrated this! He smashed a conceptual idol in front of me.

Amazing! Everything is new again. All those years I thought I had a good foundation. Now that foundation has changed - and the possibilities are once again endless. At the end of the lesson, he reminded me that theory is meaningless; that one must play music!  I told him about my recent jam with Ornette Coleman, and that Ornette told me "The tonic is in the heart." Ustad Khan said "He's right!"

He gave me a CD. A recording of him playing Rag Puriya Dhanashree. He said "Listen to this. Just listen".

I scheduled another lesson for  the following Wednesday. I asked him if there was anything I should prepare for. he said "Just prepare to learn"

That lesson was another mind job. I learned a new raga. And he invited me to hang out and watch the other lessons. The lessons were in an apartment. Very cozy. Other students were also there; some waiting for a lesson, some just hanging out. Having the chance to study with someone like him is a marvellous opportunity.

I know theory quite well: I know jazz, and raga, and can compose orchestral music. But when I play, I don't think theory. I reserve that for practice, or lessons (giving them or taking them). It has its place; Ustad Khan said that technique and musicality are equally important. After all, how can you play what you want without the technique to do so? But on the other hand, what good is technique without music that speaks to the soul? Ustad Khan has technique to make your jaw drop: at one point, he was playings something and smoke was coming off his instrument! I couldn't see his fingers, they were a blurr! But everything he played was absolutely beautiful. At one point, when he was playing a slow piece, I saw tears coming up in a few eyes; my own included.

The following Sunday I attended an all day workshop. This was a bit uncomfortable for me because I'd been awake the night before with work and a gig. I arrived at the house where the workshop was held (it was a man in Queens who hosted the event. His basement is set up to present Indian classical music concerts and teaching). Everyone knew I was exhausted; and helped me.

Ustad Khan came and we were divided into groups. Then he showed is a piece of a raga; Jaijaiwanti. We spent some hours working on it. After a lunch break, he took each individual group and refined their playing the raga. My group was last. By this time, my brain was simply not working. I hoped that he wouldn't pick me to play for him first. Sure enough; he did! I played it, and he expressed approval. Then he showed me how to cultivate an improvisation on the raga.

Then, after he worked with the others, all the students assembled, and he played the raga for us. Needless to say, it was marveolous!

Then, he set up a tabla tarang box to a very shlow teental, and began to play thatt Bilawal (a major scale). Very slow. We all joined him. This kept going. Every now and again, he would turn up the speed. And it went on and on! Faster and faster! I was really tired, my legs were cramping, my hands were tired, and my mind was foggy. But I couldn't give up! Not in front of the master! Suddenly, something happened. The pain and fatigue in my body went away, my mind was clear, and the scale began to play itself! It was so natural and effortless!

Finally, he ended it. I learned that we played that teental cycle 1000 times!

This week had been a marvelous experience for me.

On March 11th 2009, I had the honor of jamming with Ornette Coleman

 A few weeks before, I'd attended a concert at the Kniitting Factory in NYC of the Master Musicians of Jajouka.

I know their leader Bachir Attar, and manager Cherie Nutting; and I was given a back stage pass.
 
The concert was unbelievable!! You never heard anything like Jajouka music. There is simply nothing else like it anywhere on earth. Listening to them live is like your soul is having an orgasm that lasts an hour and a half.
 
After the concert, they invited me to a dinner party the following day at the apartment where they were staying.
 
Sunday night I went to the party. It was nice. The leader of the group, Bachir Attar, is the only one of the group who speaks English; so I had a hard time communicating with the others (one of them knows some Spanish, so I could kind of talk to him. And the little Arabic I know helped). And guess who showed up at the party? Ornette Coleman. He and the Jajouka Masters had been friends for years.
 
Ornette is a really nice guy. He and I hit it off. In fact, when he arrived and was being introduced to those he didn't know, he clearly singled me out to meet. Ornette looked at me, and he immediately knew me. Same thing when I met Bachir years ago. He later invited me to his place to jam with him whenever I liked, and gave me his home address and phone number. He's old; his fragility is quite obvious. But he is still very much Ornette Coleman.
 
Bachir also invited me to come to Morroco to play with the Masters.
 
Now, Bachir, Ornette, and the like, are clearly of a different ilk; music of a different nature that pursues different objectives and serves its own functions in human society. Such is clearly my destiny, and I am not only at peace with it, but welcome it. That said, in their realm, they are masters - and they accepted me as a brother.
So, anyway, Ornette invited me to his home to jam with him.