THE RHYTHM SECTION At Courtyard Koota

Aman Mahajan, Suresh Bascara, and Dhani Muniz: From Bangalore and Pondicherry emerges a collaboration years in the offing. Working as a piano trio or as a backing band, The Rhythm Section is determined to extract every musical possibility from every song. How to get the most out of the moment, out of the collective? By abandoning the difference between line and colour, emotion and execution. Jazz is the sound of collage. No oil paints lying wet on a canvas waiting to be pushed around and corrected, but blocks of pure colour and texture, cut out and deliberately placed—the modular arrangements of the artists' most immediate emotions.

"I do it in self-defense." —Henri Matisse, on how his most exuberant collages emerged from the darkest days of WW2 France

Aman Mahajan (piano, electric piano)

Dhani Muniz (electric bass)

Suresh Bascara (drumset)

featuring special guest: Samhita Nagaraj (voice)

About the Band

Indian pianist-composer Aman Mahajan plays improvised music as a medium of exploration, expression and exchange. His work is often reflective, influenced by a diversity of traditional and contemporary forms from around the world, and inspired by a search for unity and connection. His 2019 solo piano album REFUGE explores ideas of home, paying homage to inward journeys. Mahajan has performed widely on the Indian music circuit, and internationally at venues. Presently based out of Bangalore, he is involved with his solo piano project Refuge, and collaborations including Tinctures with Berlin-based guitarist Nishad Pandey, a duo with vocalist Radha Thomas, and cross-cultural trio Mystik Vibes with percussionist Muthu Kumar and flautist Amith Nadig. Focussed on the development of the contemporary improvised music in India, Mahajan also teaches privately from his piano studio in Bangalore, and has been a returning faculty member at the Global Music Institute, Delhi.

direct.me/amanmahajan

Dhani Muniz is a guitarist, bassist, singer, writer and composer born in Albany, New York. Performing regularly since the age of 13, he has delved into blues, pop, folk, metal, jazz and electronic genres with a continuous focus on his favorite unifying musical aspect, improvisation. Having played with a wide variety of musicians, he is currently occupied with recording and releasing his own original material, together with publishing a novel, poetry and essays. He is passionate about gamelan music and the work of William Burroughs and Thelonious Monk.

Suresh Bascara is a French-Indian drummer and percussionist from Auroville, India. Noted for his unique and wayward styles of playing (and living), he began sketching Art Blakey as a musical idol after watching him perform live in Paris as a youth. Since then, he has delved far into Latin and Indian classical forms, but the improvisational spirit that runs through all his playing in every medium remains distinctively his own. As one of India's foremost jazz drummers, his mantra of becoming a successful musician- talent, persistence, and a good mentor—holds true for all.