Live: Dhruv Ghanekar @ Blue Frog

It was the closest the Blue Frog has come to having a traditional album launch â?? free drinks for the press, a chief guest and some much expected public display of mutual admiration. Louiz Banks, the godfather of Indian jazz to some, uncle to Dhruv Ghanekar, was on hand to launch the composer-guitaristâ??s debut album Distance on January 22.

After the ribbon on the CDs were unwrapped and Banks and Ghanekar showered much love on each other, Ghanekar and his band â?? drummer Lindsay Dâ??Mello, keyboard player Abhijeet Nallani, saxophonist Carl Clements, bassist Sheldon Dâ??Silva and percussionist Vibhas â??T2â? Rao â?? played the eight tracks off the album.

Head downstairs for the full review, pics and the Indiecision.

Calm, relaxed and contemplative were some of the words that came to our mind when we heard an advance copy of the record. And while some at Indiecision made the unfair accusation that it would make for a great meditation CD, we felt that the laidback tunes would have perhaps worked better in a more intimate coffeehouse-type setting than in Ghanekarâ??s own club, where those in the pit could clearly hear a wall of chatter behind them. Itâ??s only thanks to the Frogâ??s great sound that we could hear the band at all.

The two points in the show â?? if you donâ??t count the jammy unreleased encore song â?? when everybody seemed to be paying close attention was during the more energetic, jazz-rock tracks ‘Pop Quiz’, which Ghanekar recorded with three members of The Ploctones, and ‘Cunning Politicians’. These were the moments when Ghanekar, who changed many guitars, got the chance to truly rock out and show off his well known chops.

Ghanekar recorded the album with a number of LA-based musicians, veteran session players as drummer Joey Heredia and bassist Hussain Jiffry, but the local players proved to be very capable substitutes. Vocalist Nandini Srikar and Clements, who do appear on the album, mirrored their studio skills on stage as well. The only person who seemed to be having an off-night was Philippe from Bauchklang who read out lyrics to a hip hop flavoured tune. He was barely audible and looked awkwardly uneasy.

It was evident that Ghanekar, who has spent much of his life composing music for commercials, clearly knows how to juxtapose two seemingly incongruous sounds but if his brand of Indian classical jazz fusion to make for enjoyable live music, he needs a captive audience, which we canâ??t say the Page 3 puppet-drawing Frog always has.

Indiecision: B