Like post-bop jazz, traditional Indian music emphasizes modal improvisation -- which explains why it had so strong and powerful an influence on
John Coltrane
,
Yusef Lateef
Pharoah Sanders
and quite a few other post-bop greats. What makes
Natraj
different from them is that the adventurous Boston-based quartet does more than incorporate elements of Indian music some of the time --
makes combining jazz and Indian spiritual music the primary focus.
's instrumentation is unorthodox; leader
Phil Scarff
's soprano and tenor saxophones are united with tablas (
Jerry Leake
), bass (
Michael Rivard
) and percussion (
Russ Gold
). From
Trane
's
"Resolution"
to
Scarff
's own pieces,
Meet Me Anywhere
offers a unique, often seamless integration of east and west that is as ambitious as it is individualistic. ~ Alex Henderson