Rating: NNN
Filtering South Asian sounds through funk and jazz fusion can feel initially offputting, as it does on the title track that opens Autorickshaw's third release. It's as if Rich Brown's scale-crawling bass lines and Suba Sankaran's jazzy, spoken-word English vocals are making a statement: prepare to hear something that requires an open mind. The experiment makes more sense when the South Asian ingredients get stronger. Ed Henley (also producing) adds stellar tabla and udu work under Sankaran's traditional vocals, which come across as more fluid than their jazz counterparts, especially on Manju Nihar, Vara Sapta Swara and Aaj Ki Raat – the last penned by the great RD Burman.
Jason Keller
NOW | APRIL 5 - 11, 2007 | VOL. 26 NO. 31