Righteous !… but Bittersweet ?

Jazz

On Friday evening , the 14th of October 2011,  the Carlton Kitto Jazz Ensemble will open a three day international jazz event in Bombay ….Carlton’s set will be followed by Jon Faddis. The next two days feature Steve Turre, the Cedar Walton Trio, and Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Legacy .

Great stuff, and its truly righteous that our friend Carlton Kitto has been finally recognized by the local jazz cogniscenti .. its just marvellous to read the listing on their website:

Carlton Kitto is a legendary figure in jazz from India. When he was band leader at Blue Fox on Park Street, Kolkatta, for about 12 years (before which Louiz Banks was the leader and Carlton played in his band), he jammed with all visiting jazz musicians from different corners of the world, including people like Steve Turre, Kenny Baron, Chico Freeman and others and their response to his knowledge of his guitar and his fluency and familiarity with bebop in particular, was remarkable. He remains a purist and will only play music pieces the way they were composed, adhering to stylistic  traditions.

For this talented and dedicated professional who has survived by eking out a meagre living in Calcutta, and has been passed by and indeed ignored by  the grand pooh-bahs of Jazz in India , this is an amazing honor and recognition …long, long, overdue …

Regardless of the fact that we cant help wondering  whether our film has played some small part in this (rewind to June 2009 in India, in conversation with one of the grand poo-bahs: “carlton who ?”) we are simply delighted, turning cartwheels and standing on our head while applauding the team at the NCPA that made this singular honor occur. Join us in a well-deserved round of applause for the committee that helped make this happen…well done !

Yes, this is indeed righteous ..So what’s the bittersweet angle to this post ?

Advertisement