Indrani Mukerjea

Erik Truffaz received an early introduction into the world of a professional musician, thanks to his saxophone-playing dad. When he was ten years old, the French trumpeter began performing in his father's dance band. As he grew older, Truffaz performed with other bands in the region until he was 16 and heard Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. The great jazz trumpeter's music inspired him to learn more, and he set off for Switzerland's Geneva Conservatoire, where he became a student. Truffaz's repertoire expanded to works by Mozart and Verdi, and he performed as part of L'Orchestre de Suisse Romande. He also played in cover bands before establishing a group called Orange. The band concentrated on Truffaz's compositions…

The album is a delight. Especially for Indrani Mukherjee's wonderful singing and Apurba Mukherjee tabla-playing. But Malcolm Braff's sympathetic piano-playing and Truffaz' mainstream trumpet accents add a nice jazz flavor to the music which fits really well. Real fans of traditional Indian music will possibly be frustrated by the intrusion of the piano and the trumpet, and true, the record is really carried musically by the Mukherjees, yet the combination works well. There are three studio performances, and two pieces that were recorded live at the Cully Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Truffaz and Braff spent two months in Kolkata (Calcutta) studying Indian music with the Mukherjees, then inviting them for a tour in Europe.