BANGALORE: BFlat and Radio Indigo will present The Makk Quartet — Contemporary jazz on September 16, 8.30 pm onwards. The Makk Quartet is a modern jazz ensemble of some of the most prominent names in Indian jazz. It will also feature American saxophonist Matt Renzi. Together these musicians will create stirring and soulful contemporary jazz that is sure to make the evening a memorable one. A San Francisco native, tenor saxophonist or clarinetist Matt Renzi was born into a musical family. His father was principal flautist with the San Francisco Symphony and his grandfather was principal oboist with Toscanini’s NBC Symphony. He received a BA in performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters degree from San Francisco State University in classical composition. Some of his teachers include Joe Henderson, George Garzone and South Indian vocalist R A Ramamani.Matt has appeared at festivals and venues throughout North America as well as Europe, Japan, Israel, India, Singapore and Angola. Of note is his work with Dialogue, a band led by legendary bassist, Herbie Lewis. He can be heard on a variety of recordings including the award winning Lines and Ballads for Fresh Sound Records (Barcelona, Spain) as well as his latest release, Lunch Special for Three P’s Records. Matt has also performed and recorded with Marc Johnson, Michael Formanek, Eddie Marshall, Tommy Campbell, Eberhard Weber, and Bobo Stenson. One of the country’s biggest names in jazz Fusion music, Amit Heri has been playing guitar from the age of 13. His passion for music earned him a scholarship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston wherein he studied Jazz and composition.Amit is a versatile guitarist with a wide repertoire encompassing styles as diverse as the blues, jazz, Indian and Western Classical as well as rock and pop. He has shared the stage and worked with numerous internationally renowned artists including Charlie Mariano, Zakir Hussain, Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo, Trilok Gurtu, Ramamani and the KCP, Shankar Mahadevan, U Srinivas, Sudha Raghunathan, Louiz Banks, Ranjit Barot, Selva Ganesh, Matt Garrison, Karl Peters, Aka Moon and Robert Miles.Karl Peters is a living legend. He is unanimously acknowledged as the numero uno bassist in India. Karl’s virtuosity on the bass, his knowledge of western jazz harmonies and his grasp of Indian modes and melodic concept makes him an invaluable force in any Indian and International musical group. He grew up in a railway employees’ colony in Madras where most people played music to relieve the tedium of dreary day jobs. His father sang and played the guitar at gymkhanas and night clubs while his uncle was a drummer. After sundown, the youngsters would gather on their porches, guzzle the local brew, smoke grass, play and sing. Their musical upbringing revolved around the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Cliff Richards. Lata and Rafi were in fact extra-terrestrial.The early ‘80s — the then 24-year-old musician was tired of playing ‘Funky Town’ night after in an obscure Bangalore club for a paltry `800 a month. So, when he heard that jazz India was auditioning bass guitarists for a European tour, he begged his wife, Pandora, to have faith in him, borrowed money from some friends and jumped onto a train. Karl Peters got the gig. And the next thing he knew, he was being introduced to his dream idol, Jaco Pastorious, the bass guitarist with ‘Weather Report’ in Belgrade and soon became a part of the jazz-fusion band Silk lead by Louis Banks thereafter.Kurt Peters, coming from a line of musicians in the Peters family, was the most likely member of the next generation of musicians. His first big event happened at the age of 18 at the ‘97 Channel [V] music awards, playing with artists like the Colonial Cousins (Leslie Lewis and Hariharan). He started playing drums at the age of 14 and later went on to perform with leading artists and musicians in the country. At age 21, he traveled to New York where he studied at The Collective, the World’s Premier Contemporary Music School. His study was based on a wide range of musical styles including Jazz, Funk, Brazilian and Popular music.Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music.
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