Songs as rich as entire albums, come see a master at work and leave without words to describe it
You know a solo is good when you audibly mouth “what the …” enough times to your friend next to you, to the point where your mouth runs dry. Yet over the course of an evening, Trilok Gurtu flung my expectations round like a yoyo, endlessly surprising me and honestly being one of the most impressive musical performances I’ve ever seen.
As soon as you walk into the venue you see his unique drum kit setup almost drowning him in equipment. This included a western drum kit, traditional Indian table drums, a bucket of water and a selection of various small handheld instruments. If that seems like a pretty wild, range of instruments just wait to see how he uses them.
From minute one to the end, you’re completely entranced by licks that never quite end in the way you expect, polyrhythmic drumming that seems inhuman to perform, and songs as rich as whole albums in structure. While Trilok’s solos are clear showcases of his virtuoso talent, often lasting more than 3-4 minutes of the most complex drumming I’ve ever seen, the entire songs (performed by Scottish national jazz orchestra, who seemed to be enjoying playing as much as the audience did watching) were incredible advertisements for the appeal of fusion jazz.
You could never predict the structure and what came in the next bar, but when you got hit with an unexpected rhythm or time signature change it just sounds so obviously brilliant. Jazz is known for it’s surprising compositions but Trilok takes that to a level I hadn’t encountered at jazz clubs in London, Edinburgh and abroad. His mastery both of playing, and composing both for himself and an entire band is astounding and I can’t even pick a favourite song of the whole show.
Perhaps it is one wherein he builds a story starting off with small handheld percussion instruments he plays as they sink into a bucket of water, before raising the composition with a thundering herd of drums. Perhaps it is the titular 21 spices that encompass a musical journey as varied and packing as much of a kick as the name sake spices. Perhaps it is just any of his solos with his tabla drums that gave my wrists pain just looking at him play. I won’t tell you which because I could never decide, but you really should find out for yourself. Trilok has given me one of the best evenings of music I’ve seen yet.
Go and see a master at work, if you have ears to hear, you will leave lost for words.