Pianist Richard Bennett Intuitively Balances Indian Classical and Jazz Sensibilities

One day in India, New York-based composer and jazz pianist Richard Bennett discovered he was playing ragas. He was improvising with his friend, light Hindustani classical singer Dhanashree Pandit-Rai at her apartment by the Arabian Sea, when the singer’s mother walked in. She liked what she heard.

“She kept naming the ragas I was playing,” recalls Bennett, referring to the complex modes and associated ornaments that form the melodic basis for Indian classical music. “Even when I wasn’t consciously playing them, she identified them. I picked up the ragas by listening, by osmosis.”

The serendipitous discovery opened the door for Bennett to a very personal way of joining two traditions on his unlikely instrument, an approach that shines with musical clarity in the original pieces on New York City Swara (Times Music; release: November 12, 2013). The product of years of recording and performing, the album brings together some of New York’s strongest Indian classical and jazz players, supporting Bennett’s well-honed playing on piano and melodica.

Focusing on each note or swara, its sound and significance, Bennett has found an intuitive, engaging means of expressing the essence of each raga, with a sound that feels equally at home in Brooklyn or Mumbai. Sometimes stripped down to the sonic core, sometimes rippling with arpeggios, Bennett’s pieces move gracefully between dreamy textures and catchy ballads, between bubbling electronics and South Indian violin, between minimalist contemplation and driving groove.

“I don’t really consider it purely Indian music because the pianistic part is central,” Bennett reflects. “It’s all about the piano and how I want the piano to sound.”

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