Blogical Conclusion

BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

Jazz trumpeter Eric Truffaz sits down for a conversation and begins with a deep intake of breath – literally.

FEB 18, 2007 - IT’S NOT OFTEN THAT I’VE FOUND MYSELF perched on a parapet wall alongside a world-renowned jazz trumpeter – but there I am with Eric Truffaz, outside the auditorium at Chennai’s beautiful Museum Theatre. Truffaz’s bandmates are rehearsing inside for their performance that evening, hence this weird encampment. But the afternoon is about to get a lot weirder. I begin to ask Truffaz why he likes to be called a cross-genre trumpeter when I notice his hands. Could that be…? Surely it couldn’t be…! And I have to find out. “Is that thing in your hand a bidi?‿ Yes, it is. “I bought it in Calcutta,‿ he says. “I love bidi. I smoke bidi for over thirty years now, since I am 14.‿ But doesn’t he know there’s no filter in this thing, that it’s a direct hit of nicotine or whatever? He gives me that most Clintonian of defenses – “I don’t inhale‿ – and his face tilts upwards, eyes closed, as a cloud of smoke that he did not inhale makes its way to the skies.

Later that evening, I see that that gesture may be a Truffaz signature. The bidi in his hands may have been replaced by a trumpet, but his face still tilts upwards, eyes closed – as if seeking divine inspiration. He clearly gets some. The first piece – with contributions from Malcolm Braff’s piano and Christophe Chambet’s bass – kicks off with a heavy, lively sound; it’s a shot of pure adrenalin that somehow manages to work in a nod to the dreamy cadences of Ravel’s Bolero. The item that follows is a mournful trumpet solo, a lounge-bar ode to the blue state in the mode of the Gershwins’ Someone To Watch Over Me. And I get the answer to my question that remained unasked earlier that day. This is a cross-genre performance, all right – a mix of African rhythms and European melody, all shrouded in the classic-jazz ambience. There’s even a tabla on stage, overseen by KV Balakrishnan, one that we sense but do particularly hear because Marc Erbetta on the drums has decided to play percussional big bully.

“When I was a teenager,‿ says Truffaz, “I was listening to rock like what Jimi Hendrix did. And then I discovered jazz. And then I discovered hip-hop. So my music is a mix of all these influences.‿ That’s a long journey for someone who began tooting his trumpet in the marching band in his village in Switzerland. Truffaz’s father played the saxophone, and he thought it would be a good idea to get young Eric trained on the trumpet, so they could perform together. “This was French music, European music. It was not jazz. It was more pop – not pop music – but popular music, like Joe Dassin.‿ Afterwards, Truffaz formed his own band and has been making his own music. “My melody comes from French tradition. My rhythms come from pop and hip-hop. And the jazz comes from the improvisation.‿ And all this music comes from the collaboration with the bands Truffaz alternates between, Quartet (who pioneered the development of the jazz-fusion drum and bass) and Ladyland (a congregation of a few free spirits of the French jazz scene).

Now that Truffaz is in India, he is looking to add another sound to his mix. “I think I’ll record something with Indian people – because I love tabla and I really love the Indian voice culture. I listen to a lot of Hari Prasad Chaurasia – on the flute. It’s one of my big influences. But I mainly want to integrate the tabla and the voice.‿ So how would he do this? Would he simply lock himself in a recording room with a singer and a tabla exponent and throw away the key? Or would he write something first, something with specific Indian musical motifs? “My first idea is to come back to India to study, and afterwards I will write something for me and my music.‿ And then Truffaz says something very curious for a practitioner of an art form as all-appropriating as jazz. “My wish is to integrate the Indian mood, but I cannot play Indian classical music. I’m not born here. I cannot lie with my roots.‿

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