Canadian Jazz Showcase
Avataar
Friday, June 21, 9:30pm
Royal Albert Arms
JUNO award winner for Best Jazz Album (Group) in 2022, JAZZ FM’s pick in 25 of the Best Jazz Albums of 2021, and a recipient of the Toronto Jazz Festival's Special Projects Initiative award for 2016, Avataar's music marries classical Indian music, modern jazz, Brazilian lyricism, atmospheric textures and ambiance, Javanese gamelan, and contemporary improvisation. Cleverly layered and cinematic in scope, the music drives and swirls through a vast sonic palette and has drawn comparison to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett with Jan Garbarek, late Coltrane, and Oregon. The resulting confluence is a mesmerizing blend of rhythmic hypnotism, sonic landscapes and soaring melody that marries ancient and modern musical sounds.
Avataar's core personnel includes: Sundar (saxes and flutes), Michael Occhipinti (guitar), Felicity Williams (vocals), Justin Gray (bass and bass veena), Ravi Naimpally (tablas and percussion), and Max Senitt (drums). Guests on the recording Petal include Robi Botos (piano) and Samidha Joglekar (Hindustani voice), and on the most recent album Worldview include Todd Pentney (pno/synth) and Aaron Lightstone (oud).