Shobha

Trilok Gurtu's percussion work has powered a number of great albums that effectively fuse world music with jazz, allowing for both tight performance and free improvisation. This collection is therefore a gem, selecting ten cuts from six albums. Both an excellent overview and a wonderful place to begin acquainting yourself with Gurtu's music, and thus an essential addition to any jazz or world music collection.

God Is A Drummer is the new studio album by master drummer Trilok Gurtu. Throughout his illustrious career, master drummer and world music pioneer Gurtu has stood at the confluence of where Indian classical music, Western jazz and funk, African music, and Brazilian music meet. It's been part of his modus operandi for five decades – making music that defies easy categorization. On God Is A Drummer, his 20th recording as a leader, the uncommonly open-minded musician pays tribute to some fallen colleagues and role models who have guided and inspired him along the way. Leading his dynamic, Hamburg-based group of trumpeter Frederik Köster, trombonist Christophe Schweizer, Turkish-born keyboardist Sabri Tulug Tirpan, and electric bassist Jonathan Cuniado.

As a producer and sideman, Bombay-born percussionist and singer Trilok Gurtu has become something of a godfather to London's emerging Asian Underground movement, but he's also been quietly releasing solo albums for the last decade. The latest finds him teamed up with bassist Kai Eckhardt de Camargo (good luck sorting out the ethnicity of that name), guitarist Jaya Deva, sitar player Ravi Cherry, and several high-profile guests (including Neneh Cherry, who sings a touching tribute to Ravi's and her late stepfather) for a program of cross-cultural jamming.