Natraj - Natraj: Meet Me Anywhere (1994)

Like post-bop jazz, traditional Indian music emphasizes modal improvisation -- which explains why it had so strong and powerful an influence on John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders and quite a few other post-bop greats. What makes Natraj different from them is that the adventurous Boston-based quartet does more than incorporate elements of Indian music some of the time -- Natraj makes combining jazz and Indian spiritual music the primary focus. Natraj's instrumentation is unorthodox; leader Phil Scarff's soprano and tenor saxophones are united with tablas (Jerry Leake), bass (Michael Rivard) and percussion (Russ Gold). From Trane's "Resolution" to Scarff's own pieces, Meet Me Anywhere offers a unique, often seamless integration of east and west that is as ambitious as it is individualistic. © Alex Henderson