Bada Boom (Music review), Jazz/Fusion – Ranjit Barot

Singularity starts like a disjoint tapestry of sounds, but comfortably settles into its groove. The legendary John McLaughlin makes a cameo, together with Ranjit on konnakol, Punya Srinivas on Veena and Harmeet Manseta on piano, all conjuring heady magic! T = 0 has U Rajesh’s stunning mandolin solo, even as Amit Heri and Palakkad Sreeram open the track with a serene prelude in guitar and flute. Dominique Di Piazza’s incredible bass and Marc Guillermont’s guitar solo lead the track’s jazzy fusion ending! Revolutions opens hauntingly with Thiru Moorthy’s nadaswaram and Vignesh Ishwar’s resonant classical vocals, while Taufique Quereshi joins Ranjit in an intoxicating percussion jugalbandi – it soars mind bogglingly with a choir’ish finale! Supernova has U Srinivas’ mandolin hinting at raaga Charukesi. Zakir Hussain on tabla and Paras Nath on flute pave way for Ranjit to move into jazzy territory and a scintillating finale. Dark matter, with a Palakkad Sreeram’s vocals and Tim Garland’s sax, and Origin, the most pop’ish track, with Kirti Sagathia’s vocals, Scott Kinsey on keyboards and Wayne Krantz’s guitar, round off the album in style! Ranjit Barot’s assembly of musicians and music in Bada Boom is like a dream wish-list and it all works spectacularly!

Keywords: Ranjit Barot, Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, U. Shrinivas, U. Rajesh, Matt Garrison, Wayne Krantz, #200