Joel Larue Smith trio live in India!

Music in Goa is known for its Latin American roots and one Goan musician Colin D’Cruz got the opportunity to perform Latin-jazz with a couple of masters from Brazil and America. Thanks to the Internet. The internet has turned the world into one large interesting room and it was through the internet that Joel Smith saw and heard Colin’s performances. Joel Smith is an American pianist, composer, arranger, educator and Latin-jazz performer. He leads a jazz trio which also features twenty-year-old Brazilian drummer Tiago Michelin who started playing drums at the age of three and now studies music at the world-renowned institute of jazz – the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Jazz bass player Colin D’Cruz who has been making waves worldwide with his music regularly being published on the internet, saw yet another of his dreams come true. Joel Smith invited Colin to perform with his trio at the first of their world wide gigs. They played their first international gig at the live music venue – Blue Frog in Mumbai on the 31st of May 2011. Colin had studied Joel’s music through exchanges on the internet long before the first gig and he comfortably slipped into the band even though the trio actually got together for the first time onstage itself. Joel Smith’s music has Afro-Cuban elements laced with intricate jazz harmonies and infectious Latin rhythm making it an intense yet enjoyable listening experience. The packed house at Blue Frog responded to every track with thunderous applause and did not let go of the band even way past the last song for the show. One of the tracks performed was named ‘Miramar’ which is a very common name of cities in South America. Joel was quite surprised to know that there was a Miramar in Goa too and announced the fact to the audience dedicating the song to a few Goans in the audience. Colin discussed possibilities of having the band perform in Goa and Joel Smith has promised to include Goa in his worldwide itinerary.

Pianist Joshua Costa from Goa is one of the few young Indian musicians who has taken to jazz. His latin-jazz composition 'Samba de Goa' currently tops the international jazz charts from amoung thousands of compositions by worldwide jazz giants. Checkout Joshua's composition here: http://www.soundclick.com/joshuacosta

Carlos Gonsalves a percussionist from Mapusa dedicated himself to the drums from the age of 13 and enjoyed the rhythm of his new found love. "My teacher was Lester Godinho from whom I learnt to play drums. I wanted to try my hand at other percussion instruments, so I tried the tabla and really loved the sound," says Carlos.He then graduated as drummer with 'Deep Red' a professional pop band in Goa. This band gave him the experience of performing various events at all kinds of venues including some of the five star resorts in Goa.Carlos's passion for rhythm attracted him to the exciting sounds of Latin American music that made him switch over from drums to percussion. "I got my first break as a percussionist with Goa's sensational latino band Obligato. Now I play African drums and a whole lot of unconventional percussion instruments," adds Carlos who has dedicated ten years of his life to his passion. His forte is Indian-fusion but he is also comfortable playing jazz.He is set to perform in Kolkata with the Mumbai based 'Brown Indian Band' an indo-jazz fusion ensemble. "This band is led by Goan bassplayer Colin D'Cruz. I have been associated with this band for over three years. I Travel with them all over the country and now we head for Kolkata," confirms Carlos whose inspiration is the ace percussionist, Trilok Gurtu originally Goan, but now settled in Germany.The Brown Indian Band has been invited to perform for 'U-Turn'-the annual cultural festival of Jadavpur University, Kolkata on September 22. We will perform in front of 8000 odd students, so I am really looking forward to it. Also, after this event we will conduct a workshop for the students where we will explain our concept of fusion," concludes Carlos.