Incorporating classical Indian vocal techniques into modern vocal jazz

The Road to Bombay
After my second recording for Telarc in 1998, I had reached a plateau in my professional singing and was bored and disenchanted with the local jazz scene in New York. The continued segregation of jazz singers from most jazz venues propelled me to search for "new inspiration." Due to my visibility on the Internet, I received an e-mail from Niranjan Jhaveri (pronounced "Jahvery") describing an exotic vocal jazz program: JIVI, the Jazz-India Vocal Institute. Based in Bombay, India, Jhaveri is the author of New Vocal Techniques For Jazz And Modern Music. As I read through Mr. Jhaveri's voluminous e-mail, I became intrigued with his thoughts on western jazz vocalists practicing classical Indian vocalese exercises and applying the sliding techniques to vocal improvisation.

Mr. Jhaveri is correct when he states that vocal jazz education has lagged behind that of instrumental jazz. In colleges all over the world, the best programs are only now being conceived and written. We know that Ella Fitzgerald did not document her study of jazz, nor did Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday. In days past, singers sang "off the top of their heads" and were happy to be singing lyrics and "telling the story." On occasion, a Carmen McRae or Sarah Vaughan played piano; so their level of musicianship was higher than many other vocalists as a result. Most musicians dug it if the singer could just sing in tune and swing!

While those qualities will always be appreciated in jazz, we can also appreciate contemporary jazz vocalists who improvise. Following in the footsteps of Jon Hendricks and Eddie Jefferson, we have Mark Murphy, Kevin Mahogany, Kurt Elling, and Nancy King, to name a few. Thankfully, Bob Stoloff of the Berklee College of Music has written a book, Scat! Vocal Improv Techniques, one of the few teaching aids available for vocal jazz improvisation. However, fusing theoretical knowledge of jazz with classical Indian vocalese opens a provocative door to new possibilities.

I replied to Mr. Jhaveri's e-mail and suggested that though the JIVI program usually lasts for two months, perhaps I could take at least six weeks off of my summer vacation to explore the world of classical Indian vocalese. So I packed my bags, promised my husband and daughter I'd be fine, and headed to Bombay, India on a great adventure.

As part of your residency, you are required to sing with a local hotel band five nights a week to pay for your room, board, and dry-cleaning. Creature comforts are important to me; so I was delighted to be staying and working in a lovely Oberoi Hotel; and everyone involved with the hotel and the program proved to be a delight.

Diverse Styles
Indian Classical Music has two major divisions: Northern Indian (Hindustani) and Southern Indian (Carnatic). Southern Indian singers shake their notes prominently, with much less improvisation than in the north and more emphasis on the taal (rhythmic) aspect; they actually perform the rhythm by tapping their hands on their sides, often doing without any percussionist. In the north there are specific ragas (pronounced "raags," meaning "songs," each built on one specific scale) for specific times of day. Raga Vibhas & Raga Bhairav are ragas of dawn, Raga Hamsadhvani for night, Raga Chandrakauns and Madukauns Raga for midnight. In addition, Bairagi is a raga of detachment; Raga Hindol is for spring; Raga Kalavati is very similar to the boogie woogie scale (1, 3, 5, 6, 8 - 8, 7, 6, 5, 3, 1); and Raga Gunkali is very Japanese in sound. In the south there is no relationship between a raga and the hour of day: all ragas can be sung at any time. And while the music is more devotional in the south, it is more romantic in the north.

There are four major gharanas (schools or styles) of singing in Hindustani music: Kirana, Agra, Gwalior, and Jaipur, each named after the villages where the originators of the styles lived. Though each gharana is distinctly identifiable in its presentation and improvisation, what is even more interesting to my ear is the voice production itself. Vamanrao Deshpande, a well-known Indian musicologist, describes the sound production of the four gharanas: "Kirana style is sweet, slightly nasal in voice, extremely melodious, but slightly restricted, not open-throated. Its personality is bewitching and hypnotic by the swara (note). Agra, the most aggressive style, sounds earthy, throaty, robust, and masculine, with the accent on rhythmic play. Both Gwalior and Jaipur use the natural voice without the artificiality injected into the Kirana or Agra styles. Jaipur is considered swinging and well-balanced between rhythm and each note-placement. Gwalior is more straightforward, simple, always loyal to the composition." One might consider Agra and Kirana at opposite ends, with Gwalior and Jaipur between them.

Instruction
I was very fortunate to study Khyal techniques-Northern Indian, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim-with three marvelous and stylistically diverse teachers. Historically, Hindu classical music was entirely religious, always performed in 7/8 time, and meant for uplifting the soul. Two of my teachers, Dhanashree Pandit-Rai and Purvi Parikh, are both from the Kirana Gharana, even though they are very different stylists.

Dhanashree (or Dhana) is a wonderful alto with a great sense of humor and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Hindustani classical vocal music from the University of Bombay. She trained for 17 years and studied light classical singing with Ms. Shobha Gurtu (Trilok's mother). Dhana was a joy to study with and had a beautiful and delicate sound. Each lesson included sitting on the floor as Dhana strummed a tanpura. This stringed instrument looks like a sitar without frets and has four strings tunable three different ways: G C C C, F C C C, or B C C C; so you are always improvising over one chord. She also played a harmonium, a small, hand-pumped organ with a conventional piano keyboard. She could change keys via altering transposition levers on the keyboard rather than having to memorize the ragas in twelve semitones.

To learn a raga, the music was documented with the raga scale and melody written out on a plain piece of paper in Sa Ra Ga Ma (Indian solfège resembling western music's "Do Re Mi"). Time is written via the total number of cycles (beats); and though improvisation is written out using the Sa Ra Ga Ma syllables as it develops, only the notes of the raga scale are permitted to be used. The music always starts a cappella, building rhythmically and in intensity, with the vocalist beautifully taking his or her time. The piece may go on for an hour.

Jazz musicians would compare this instructional technique to singing a Coltrane or Parker solo using solfège syllables instead of scat syllables. Each raga scale can be clearly identified as a mode or scale; for example, I have written a piece using the Gunkali scale (having the very Japanese quality) consisting of scale degrees 1, b2, #4, #5, b6 , and 8-perhaps the equivalent of an AMaj7+11 over a Gb in the bass.

My profound realization was that if we jazz singers ever practiced our scales with the time, patience, and passion that Indian singers do, we would all have incredible technique and unbelievable ears. Indian singers must study for seven years before they are allowed to sing in public.

My biggest surprise was discovering that breathing and vocal technique as we know it are not taught in Indian classical singing. Instead, each morning you wake up, start with your lowest note, and work your way up to the top of your register. My second teacher, Purvi Parikh, would say we "cut a path" to where we're going and practice for two hours. Jhaveri says that "the Indian belief is to start with the tonic, sustain it steadily, repeat it several times, and then do the same with the next lower note. Keep going lower and lower until you hit the bottom of your range. It is believed that this practice builds your vocal muscles; and as a result, your top range will ascend higher.

Purvi's father, Arvind Parikh, is a world-renowned sitar player. And her mother, Kishori Parikh, used to tour the world with Arvind but in recent years has yielded to Purvi in the group for health reasons. Purvi learned vocal aesthetics from her mother's own teacher, Ustad Vilayat Khan, and is a phenomenal vocal gymnast. I have never heard anyone sing licks and runs like Purvi.

I was delighted to discover that although Purvi had not listened to jazz music, she was intrigued by it and curious to check it out, so I gave her some of my jazz teaching tapes. I knew if she had the notations in her own solfège to any jazz tune, she would blow some minds in a jam session, so I wrote out All Blues in the Sa Ra Ga Ma form for her. One of my own personal dreams is to record a project with Purvi, fusing jazz vocals and Indian vocals together.

Purvi introduced me to Taranas, a folk-style chant with different time signatures, great fun over which to improvise. Though I could relate various Brazilian rhythms to the Taranas, I was surprised to learn that Brazilian music is not very popular in Bombay. We utilized little trills on the end of phrases that are in effect triplets bending in microtones; these take quite a bit of practice. Bebop singers are used to practicing with percussive syllables, but sliding can definitely be added between "ooo bop sha bams."

In the final days of my stay, Niranjan connected me with Uday Bhawalker, one of the few singer-disciples of Dhrupad (the oldest style of Hindu singing). His moans would convey a stream of nuance which depicted his story. Uday gave me a five-hour lesson, in return asking for my jazz listening tapes, seeking my explanation of who each singer was and how we improvise in American music. I greatly enjoy such opportunities to spread the gospel about jazz.

Eddie Daniels had made several trips to Bombay and had suggested I contact an Indian pianist, Louis Banks. I was lucky enough to lure Louis and the best bassist, drummer, and guitarist in Bombay into doing a concert with me at a local venue before I left town. Adrian D'Souza, the drummer, could become a great jazz drummer; I have brought him to the U.S., where he now works and tours with me. He is teaching me percussive syllables and rhythms in exchange for my knowledge of great swing drummers. Recently we recorded a demo utilizing an Indian scale referred to as the Vibhas (1, b2, 3, 5, b6, and 8), which is a diminished scale of six notes and a b6-or an Asusb9. We fused a few bars of a Hindu folk tune into John Coltrane's Naima, complemented with tabla as well as drum set.

Final Thoughts
Persons seeking a deep understanding of Indian music would need to augment their excellent experience in Niranjan's program with one additional aspect--the study of time with a tabla player. It is essential to understand how the Indians count the beats in odd-meter cycles. And while Mr. Jhaveri's clinics around the world are informative and enlightening, you must hear Indian singers "live" using these techniques within an ensemble. Hearing it on his CD is not the same as listening to great singers and watching their hand movements as they tell their musical story.

I would recommend the Jazz-India Vocal Institute to any creative vocal musicians searching to expand their musical horizons. Niranjan Jhaveri is also solely responsible for presenting the yearly "JazzYatra Festival" and the occasional "All Vocal JazzYatra Festival" in Bombay. While many great musicians from around the world have played and become enriched from the Indian experience there, only five JIVI graduates are from the United States: Katchie Cartwright, Wendy Fopeano, Anne Dyer, Amy Demio, and myself. I truly thank Mr. Jhaveri for the opportunity to explore the Indian vocal tradition, and I look forward to discovering where these techniques will take vocal jazz in the 21st century as I hear jazz around the world.

Bibliography
New Vocal Techniques For Jazz & Modern Music (book & CD), Jhaveri, Niranjan, 1994, ISBN 8175252391. Available from Jamey Aebersold's jazz catalog.

Scat! Vocal Improv Techniques, Stoloff, Bob. Also available from Jamey Aebersold's jazz catalog.

Discography
The artists referenced in this article each have released their own recordings. Also look for recordings by female vocal artists Kesarbai Kerkar (Jaipur), Gungubai Hangal (Kirana), Mogubai Kurdikar (Jaipur), Hirabai Barodekar (Kirana), and Roshanara Begum (Kirana); plus male vocal artists Faiyaz Khan (Agra), Bade Gulamali Khan (Patiala), Bhimsen Joshi (Kirana), Abdul Karim Khan (Kirana), Faridudin Dagar (Dhrupad), Uday Bhavalkar (Dhurapad), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Qawwali), and Vasantrao Deshpande (Gwalior).

Additional Resources
E-mail Mr. Jhaveri for a listing of the participants in the VocalYatra, or to contact him for lectures and clinics.

Vocal musician Roseanna Vitro has released her eighth CD, Conviction, Thoughts of Bill Evans (Challenge/A-Records), featuring Eddie Gomez, Fred Hersch, and Adrian D'Souza. The 1994, 1995 and 2000 Down Beat Critics Poll cited her as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in the jazz vocal category. She has performed and recorded with such artists as Elvin Jones, Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, Kenny Werner, George Coleman, and Christian McBride. Vitro is Director of the Jazz Vocal Program at New Jersey City University, resident faculty at SUNY Purchase University, and has taught in The New Jersey Performing Arts Jazz For Teens Program and at Montclair State University. She tours the U.S. and Europe as a performer and clinician. Visit Vitro's web site, or e-mail her.

Photos by Paul Wickliffe.