Bill Wurtzel
Out of the blue, I had received a strange mail from the US, from a musician
who was visiting Bangalore and wanted to have a 'gig' organized if possible.
From: Bill Wurtzel
Date: Aug 31, 2006 9:30 PM , Subject: Jazz, To:
ronniebangalore@gmail.com
Ronnie,
I am a well known NYC jazz guitarist and will be arriving in Bangalore on
Nov. 6, departing the 8th on holiday with my wife. Enclosed is an article
about me. It would be fun to play with local musicians so is it possible
to arrange a gig on Nov. 7.
Bill Wurtzel
As I am a very small time musician of the old generation, and to receive
this mail got me a little panicky. (Don't worry, as
The Bangalorewalla
, I have received many strange requests, but nothing like this. Apparently
one of Bills friends - Rana Nanjappa, who runs the Mathri School for the
Blind, put him on to my page as the source of music contact!) I sent mails
around to various musicians whom I felt would be able to support this gentleman
in playing and organizing the event. First, I had to find out who this
Bill Wurtzel was (nobody had heard of him!, Now, everybody does!) and so
I sent a mail to my guitar wizard friend Gussy in Delhi, and pat came the
answer .. 'he's the cat's whiskers'. That got me all the more flustered
as I had to get musicians of a caliber who could 'gig' with him, and so the
search began.
Not having any event management skills nor finances, really did not
spur me on, and as I was asking around to various corners, I came across
my friend Kittu who sings a good song and used to play a mean bass for
the Silencers, and he suggested 2 options, Alliance Francaise de Bangalore
and The Bangalore School of Music. Both these organizations I did not know
and so I called them and they asked me to send an email with the details
of Bill Wurtzel, which I did, and got a response from Aruna Sunderlal, the
Director of the Bangalore School of Music. She willingly said that BSM would
host the program. From then on there was lots of correspondence, the pieces
that Bill suggested which could be played, and the musicians involved etc.
I myself got confused with the dates, and I thought that the program
was to be on 7th October instead of 7th November and you can imagine how
it goes. Jagadeesh M. R, Head - Events, Artists & Repertoire
of Radio Indigo a local
FM Station, was contacted by BSM and they co-sponsored the program, with
The Park Hotel, SBI and Black Dog kicking in with some hardware/software
refreshments to help curb the thirst and stomach growls.
Finally, I received a mail from Aruna that the players were finalized,
and I found that I know the bassist, Prashaanth Davidson, but not
the drummer 'Tillu', who I understand is related to Gerard Machado? (a
good jazz guitarist of Bangalore). It just happened that I had been to my
friend Admiral OS Dawson's place on Friday (3rd November, 2006) to listen
to a young guitarist called Benny Prasad
who had designed some fancy guitars of his own, and was demonstrating
the same. It was here that two pianists were present Col. Tommy John (an
old boy of St.
Joseph's E.H. School
, and member of Dr. Tom Chandy's jazz band - Jazz Revival), and Pauline
Warjri (Director
of The Bangalore Chamber Choir), and they played a few numbers later on.
I was quite taken up with the fluent style and touch of Pauline's playing
and suggested to her to join and play with Bill Wurtzel. After a little hesitation
and a little coaxing, she agreed, and was to contact Aruna, whom she said
she knew. ( I had not read the leaflet that she gave me on her bio which
stated that she was the 'examiner' for the Bangalore School of Music!! Really
small world). I then phoned Aruna who asked me to contact Jagadeesh as he
was making the arrangements, and he said ok provided Bill agreed. I had in
the meanwhile sent off a mail to Bill about how I felt regarding Pauline's
playing with him, and they finally met on Tuesday afternoon for a rehearsal
at BSM as Bill was giving a workshop there.
I had corresponded with Aruna and Jagadeesh from September/October,
but I only met Jagadeesh before the show could start and who kindly got
me and my wife in, and we occupied a good front row, and I met Aruna during
the interval of the program.
So Lets Get on With "This Show"
!!
Bill is going to Delhi, lets hope that he gets a chance to play there
with my friend Gussy, the show is still not fixed, but there is lots of hope!
Go to Ronnie Johnson's Home Page - The Bangalorewalla
