Live: Aditya Balani Group @ Blue Frog

Aditya Balani Group played a free gig at the Blue Frog on Sunday, January 11. We were there.

Aditya Balani Group is the project of ex-Advaita member Aditya Balani, and comprises students from the Berklee College of Music. The band is touring India in support of the college’s auditions programme in the country.

“World-jazz” can be a particularly deceiving genre. As improvisational as its roots are, the addition of “world” influences (the Blue Frog weekday gig calendar bread and butter) often adds more abstract to the music than definition and usually, as we’ve noticed attending several of these performances at the Frog, the result is a confused splooge of something that has its roots in rock, with a mandolin/sitar/accordion/equivalent thrown in for geographical effect.

Aditya Balani Group’s music finds itself battling these same discombobulating demons. To its credit, it’s largely inclusive but unfortunately ends up becoming elevator jazz or hotel-lobby jazz – something that’s great for ambience, but not for listening.

Indiecision: C+

We took a bunch of pictures at the gig. Here are a few.