Baum's latest music is inspired by the late Pakistani vocalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one of the most celebrated voices in the world. While Khan died more than 15 years ago, Baum talks about his influence on her new album, In This Life.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
ARUN RATH, HOST:
Thanks again for listening. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR West. I'm Arun Rath.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RATH: That is one of the most celebrated voices the world has ever heard, the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan died in 1997, but his recordings continue to inspire. Artists like jazz flautist Jamie Baum.
JAMIE BAUM: I think the first recording I had was called "Mustt Mustt," where it was, you know, kind of Westernized. He had done quite a few things with collaborators in the West, and that was sort of the first introduction.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAUM: Something about his vocal quality and the yearning. I mean, I - when I heard him, it reminded me the first time I heard Coltrane or Miles Davis, you know, just something very visceral.
RATH: Jamie Baum used the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to inspire her writing on a new album, "In this Life."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAUM: I actually did some transcribing of his vocal improvisations to get, you know, an idea of what he was doing. It was rather challenging because it's so fast and his technical ability is just uncanny. So I think I had to, you know, use a slowdown machine two or three times to finally sort of get an idea of what he was doing. And it was very revealing both rhythmically and his embellishment and the way that he develops his solos.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RATH: You were a music ambassador for the U.S., right, a jazz ambassador?
BAUM: Yes. It was very exciting. I went on a six-week tour in 2002 and went to India for about three weeks and Sri Lanka, the Maldives and also went to Thailand and then went back on subsequent trips to Bangladesh and Nepal.
RATH: You say in the liner notes to this album that you found that the - your visits to South Asia transformative. What do you mean?
BAUM: Well, I think in general, traveling is just such an important thing to other cultures. I think if more people traveled, we'd probably have a lot more peace in the world. I think being exposed to other cultures, and particularly something that really struck me about India is there's just so many contradictions and paradox. And, you know, you'd be driving down the street, and you'll have a fancy Mercedes next to an ox-drawn cart or cows walking in the road and very modern buildings.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2013/12/14/251060737/the-inspiration-of-jazz-flautist-jamie-baum?ft=1&f=10002
Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
ARUN RATH, HOST:
Thanks again for listening. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR West. I'm Arun Rath.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RATH: That is one of the most celebrated voices the world has ever heard, the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan died in 1997, but his recordings continue to inspire. Artists like jazz flautist Jamie Baum.
JAMIE BAUM: I think the first recording I had was called "Mustt Mustt," where it was, you know, kind of Westernized. He had done quite a few things with collaborators in the West, and that was sort of the first introduction.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAUM: Something about his vocal quality and the yearning. I mean, I - when I heard him, it reminded me the first time I heard Coltrane or Miles Davis, you know, just something very visceral.
RATH: Jamie Baum used the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to inspire her writing on a new album, "In this Life."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAUM: I actually did some transcribing of his vocal improvisations to get, you know, an idea of what he was doing. It was rather challenging because it's so fast and his technical ability is just uncanny. So I think I had to, you know, use a slowdown machine two or three times to finally sort of get an idea of what he was doing. And it was very revealing both rhythmically and his embellishment and the way that he develops his solos.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RATH: You were a music ambassador for the U.S., right, a jazz ambassador?
BAUM: Yes. It was very exciting. I went on a six-week tour in 2002 and went to India for about three weeks and Sri Lanka, the Maldives and also went to Thailand and then went back on subsequent trips to Bangladesh and Nepal.
RATH: You say in the liner notes to this album that you found that the - your visits to South Asia transformative. What do you mean?
BAUM: Well, I think in general, traveling is just such an important thing to other cultures. I think if more people traveled, we'd probably have a lot more peace in the world. I think being exposed to other cultures, and particularly something that really struck me about India is there's just so many contradictions and paradox. And, you know, you'd be driving down the street, and you'll have a fancy Mercedes next to an ox-drawn cart or cows walking in the road and very modern buildings.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2013/12/14/251060737/the-inspiration-of-jazz-flautist-jamie-baum?ft=1&f=10002
0 Comments:
Post a Comment