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A successful melding of East, West
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This review first appeared in the October 9, 1992 issue of the North County Blade-Citizen (now North County Times).
For those who think that jazz is in a rut, desperately in need of an infusion of new ideas and new passions, Warren Senders' Indo-jazz is manna from heaven. And those jazz fans who merely appreciate innovative ideas and top-notch playing will also fall under the spell of Senders' "Antigravity."
Antigravity is also the name of Senders' Indo-jazz band, composed (with the exception of Senders himself) of classical Indian musicians who learned jazz theory from Senders. (Senders is apparently an accomplished and respected practitioner of traditional classical Indian music.)
"Antigravity" features these gifted Indian musicians playing Indian melodic and harmonic themes over a jazz structure, with improvisational solo passages featuring jazz' extrapolation and repetition of themes.
This very listenable album delivers what earlier dabblings (George Harrison, et al) in synthesizing Indian and Western musics have only hinted at. This cross-pollination has resulted in an artistic experience that is neither Indian nor American, yet both. Given the vastly different philosophical and practical assumptions behind the two traditions, this successful blending is no mean feat.