Review of 'Jazz'

The first production by Denzil Smith’s ‘Stagesmith’, ‘Jazz’is a bittersweet peek into the lives of the Goan musicians in Mumbai a few decades ago. Directed by Etienne Coutinho, penned by Ramu Ramanathan and researched by Naresh Fernandes, it is a thoroughly enjoyable play, one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys witty dialogue, dark humour and good music. I watched it last Sunday and the entire audience loved the play, gave it a standing ovation and just wouldn’t stop clapping !

With a moniker like ‘Jazz’, the play would have fallen flat had it not had really lovely music – the music by Merlin D’Souza left me wanting more. While some reviewers have critiqued the use of popish ‘smooth’ jazz, I felt that this added to the enjoyment of the lay audience (such as myself) and made many of us keen to hear more of such music.

Through the story of a Jazz musician’s life, the play sketches the life of Goan and Anglo-Indian musicians during the 50s-70s, their assimilation into Bombay, life on the fringes of the Hindi film industry and exploitation therein, a hand-to-mouth existence endured for the sake of their music. The musician who is the pivot of the play is not an entirely nice or likeable character – he is a womaniser, uses bad language, doesn’t have too many friends, but he is true to his music, the music that was “Invented by the devil for the torture of the saints.”

The entire story is related – mostly in verse – by this musician to a young boy who comes to him to learn to play the saxophone. The verse is engrossing and has an unusual flavour to it - sardonic, witty, humourous, keeping pace with and matching mood and sound with the music playing in the background.

‘Bugs’ Bhargava Krishna was brilliant in the role of the old down-on-his-luck musician - the raspy voice, the accent, the quivering fingers, the slight limp and most of all, the passion in his voice and his body language when he spoke of music. There was rhythm in his dialogue delivery and in the jerky, not – entirely - smooth movement of his limbs when he spoke of music or delivered lines to the accompaniment of music playing in the background. He portrayed the old musician perfectly; there was energy in his performance - zany, eccentric, excited, manic, doomed, fizzing – like the diwali chakri careening madly in circles until the very last spark has been extinguished.

Rhys D’ Souza, who plays this musician’s student, couldn’t come close in terms of acting, but he was awesome on the saxophone. It was great to hear such good live music integrated into a play. A real treat !

There was minimal use of props on stage – the play was carried on the able shoulders of ‘Bugs’ Bhargava, with support from Rhys D’ Souza. Part of the story was told through pre-recorded video clips projected on screen which had his friends, family and lovers telling their version of his life. I felt some of these clips could have been cut without losing too much from the story - especially the ones with all the women, those with his former cronies added far more.

A nice touch was the weaving of bits of Bombay history into the story - almost as a footnote, a mention of Frances Almeida, the captain of the first Portugese ship to sail into Bombay. Of course, there were lots of references to the clubs popular during the 1950s-1970s, the popular artists who played there etc. The exhibition of posters outside the theatre added to one’s enjoyment by adding context to some of the names and happenings one heard the musician refer to on stage.

Some questions that I pondered over after the play :
Where has Bhargava Krishna been all this time ? I remember seeing him in a play or two, but these are few and far between.
Why have I not listened to more Jazz music ? Anyone reader who has heard a lot of jazz, please guide me to some simple, ‘popish’ jazz artist that I could start listening to before moving on to more intricate, complicated stuff.
Does any of you readers know anyone in the group ‘Stagesmith’ ? I want a list of numbers that made up the background score to this play. Alternately, if anyone knows enough and recognized which tunes were played, please let me know.
Where in Mumbai does one go to listen to Jazz played live ? (Incidentally, there is a chance to do so this weekend, please check this link a friend forwarded to me)

Will end by leaving you with this wry comment on the audience for Jazz music by Billy Collins in the poem ‘The Many Faces of Jazz’.

Zenobia D. Driver