I could well imagine a glove being packed within a Michael Jackson Artist Box, or a Steve Tyler scarf with an Aerosmith  Artist Box, or odd-shaped colourful glasses with Elton John's.

While the average pricing is the equivalent of Rs 2,000, it will certainly have to be re-looked for the Indian environment, although the success will be largely dependent on the artiste involved and, of course, the memorabilia offered.

Nevertheless, besides the physical space, the digital space is also being geared to witness a marketing change. Besides the improvement in the quality of movies being released and, of course, the viewing experience courtesy multiplexes, even the music industry has taken a cue. Modern world It has decided to support the very platform that has witnessed patrons flocking back into theatres after a difficult period that once saw viewers preferring the confines of their home for viewing television or video.

The concept of digital theatres is a fast growing business in the West with its popularity recently being enhanced by showing footage of artiste concerts.

Some of the more popular concerts catering to, by far, different audiences were those of Bon Jovi and Beyonce, both of whom have performed in Mumbai.

The business model for obtaining fans is showing content that they can share with like-minded people under a single roof, as it were, even if it is previously seen footage in the confines of your - or a friend's - home.

As a model for the future, showing footage unavailable on DVD could be another growth opportunity or even a 3-D version of previously released DVD content all, of course, subject to artiste management approvals. Third dimension This columnist learns that U2 is likely to set a precedent among its peers by having one of its concerts shown in the third dimension in the US during January.

Stretching my imagination a bit, recordings of concerts of artistes visiting Mumbai or Bangalore, both preferred hunting grounds for international artistes, should result in much media hype and fan interest if recordings of the same concerts were shown around the country in cinema halls and/or multiplexes.

Much like the hype created for sports events, especially the Soccer World Cup, international music could well become a potent force again for the Indian legitimate industry if the record companies and theatricals got their acts right or got their rights act together (get it?).

Smooth Jazz will be the highlight of the evening - a genre of music that is traditional form of jazz yet new adult contemporary music with stylistic influences drawn from mostly R‘n'B, but also funk and pop. Austin speaks: You began your recording career with RCA at the age of five. How was the experience of being a professional musician at such a young age? Well, it was lots and lots of fun. My father was a Jazz musician for over a decade, and my house was always full of all kinds of music, not just jazz.

I've always considered music as a way of expressing yourself and just having a great time. It's about having fun, and also helping other people have fun through your music. You worked for several years as a sessions musician. Do you think that experience helped you as a solo artiste? I actually went from being a solo artiste to a background singer, when it's usually the other way around. And I think that worked out great when I went back to being a solo artiste because now I understand the plight of the background singers.

Now I know how it goes, and I can work better with those people because I've been on the other side of the fence. I also did a lot of commercial jingles. That taught me how to work fast. You have very little time and so much to do, so you learn how to make it fast, and more importantly, good. You've recorded with a number of greats from Michael Jackson to Johnny Mathis. What was that like? The one thing that's common between them is that they're com plete professionals. They're very serious about their work, and brilliant at what they do. It's easy to work with someone who knows what they're doing and what they want, from you and from the song You said in an interview that Judy Garland was a big influence for you. Who else would you count as big musical influences? Actually, Judy Garland really influenced how I perform on stage. I learnt how to sell my songs from Judy Garland and also from Lena Horne.

Musically, I'd say my vocal style came from instrumentalists, especially Miles Davis. Miles taught me a lot from what he didn't play, he was a minimalist.

His music taught me about space, and how to use it. Another influence was Duke Ellington with his piano.

How do you feel about playing in India? Did you think there were jazz fans here? There's a jazz audience pretty much everywhere. So I'm not really surprised. If you look at Indian culture, and the music from here, there are a lot of similar elements when compared to jazz, so it makes sense that people would have an affinity towards jazz.

I'm really looking forward to this trip. India's one of the few places I've never been to. It's a big deal for me. I'm quite excited to perform here and get to see as much of the country as I can. We're signing off, so do you have anything you'd like to say to the jazz fans over here? Just, come to the show, and hopefully you'll have loads of fun. We look forward to playing some great music for you people. See you soon.

IF I MAY SAY SO - Jazz, by the way

 

Luke Kenny

 

 

Patti Austin. Although she started out being a singer from the age of four, it wasn't until she attended a Judy Garland Concert in her teens that made her strengthen her focus as a singer. Get together Patti has been releasing albums since 1976 but it wasn't till 1981 that she had a big hit with the song Do you love me/the genie from the album Every Home Should Have One.

She also duetted with Michael Jackson on his 1979 hit album Off The Wall on the song, It's the falling in love. She has also recorded duets with other greats as George Benson (Moody's mood for love), Luther Vandross (I'm gonna miss you in the morning) among many others. She has consistently been performing and releasing new music and is all set to regale us tonight.

Earl Klugh. Oh man are we in for a treat! One of the few sublime jazz guitarists who finger picks a nylon string classical guitar. An absolutely prolific musician who has been constantly touring and releasing music since 1976. He sometimes releases two to three albums a year. Let's collaborate A longtime collaborator with Bob James, Earl took up the guitar at 13 after being inspired by the country great Chet Atkins. He has since collaborated with luminaries such as George Benson, Chick Correa, George Shearing and of course Bob James.

Bob James. People, get ready to genuflect, for true royalty plays amongst us tonight. A two time Grammy winner, (one with Earl Klugh for the 1979 album One on One), a keyboard virtuoso and a master producer, Bob James has been a jazz man since 1962.

Although he was one of the pioneers of the fusion sound, he started his years with legends such as Sarah Vaughn, appeared on albums by Stanley Turrentine and Milt Jackson before setting out on his own in 1974. Those hit numbers His first collaboration with Earl Klugh was the album One on One in 1979. His 1975 album Two, contains the track Nautilus which has been sampled on various hip-hop tracks like LL Cool J's Rock the bells, the Beastie Boys "Hold it now, hit it, Missy Elliott's Work it and most recently, Will.i.am's I got it from my mama. Almost 70 years old today, Bob James still performs with a verve and vigour unmatched.

So all you music freaks out there, get ready to worship at the altar of music with the presiding gods of the evening, and may you experience a rapture…if I may say so.

 

If I recollect correctly it was in 1994 when , the recorded telecast was divided as preGrammy Awards and, of course, the Grammy Awards. Artistewise It was the single opportunity for music listeners to visually witness what artistes from the West were doing. It was the period of Michael Jackson's Thriller featuring, among various hits supported by pathbreaking videos, Beat it and Billie Jean.

There was The Police too, who had performed in India only four years earlier. How can one forget Karma Chameleon Boy George's Culture Club and Duran Duran? The hip-hop factor, then still falling under the broader category of R ‘n'B had Chaka Khan singing the Prince-composed I feel for you. Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock went funk on the instrumental, Rock it, that fea tured a bizarre video containing machines moving to sound.

Intriguing as it may appear, Hancock is a Grammy nominee this year too with River: The Joni Letters nominated in the contemporary jazz category as well as for the album of the year.

While the Grammy Awards are eagerly anticipated with a global perspective in mind, this year's awards scheduled on February 10 - which should be telecast live in India on the following day - there's no longer the same excitement of viewing it here now as was all those years ago. All that hype The profusion of TV channels is one reason. Then there are several alternative media to capture the award ceremony Nevertheless, . the impact of the Grammy Awards and its televised event cannot be undermined.

It provides much required media hype for those albums that had fallen aside soon after release with the telecast ensuring the expected resurgence on sales. Of course, there would also be instances when some Indian record companies would be launching albums for the first time based on Grammy success.

Blacks dominated the Grammies once. They appear to continue their domination with hip-hop star Kanye West leading the field with eight nominations this year.

However, my interest is in the artistes of yesteryear with Paul McCartney's Memory almost full battling it in the Best Pop Vocal Album catego ry, and Bruce Springsteen's Magic and former Creedence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty's Revival being nominated in the Best Rock Album category .

High hopes With this year's Grammy Awards celebrating 50 years, the ceremony is the highlight of the year for artistes and for followers of Popilar music, even if they are no longer fashionable in Indian music circles.

After all, the global industry is still hopeful of finding an elixir to prevent the ongoing decline in physical sales that have been falling for six of the past seven years on account of mainly online illegal downloads.

The Indian edition is a special two-disc package. Disc one features 17 brand new tracks while disc two has remixes and rar ities. The album is typically trance, with a few departures here and there. Trance effect Mr Van Dyk largely sticks to what he does best, and if not for the unnecessary occasional attempts at a pop sound, the album would have received a higher rating.

But his dominance over trance is unquestionable. After the ho-hum opening with Haunted, the delectable White lines will make you wish the floor below would suddenly turn into a dance floor.

There are no less than six remixes of this track on disc two.. each of them are worth your money. Another great track is Talk in grey which features wicked vocals by Ryan Merchant. I wish this track was longer. Disc two carries a special rarity -World in my eyes that has vocals by PVD himself.

The effort to make quantity takes its toll on quality. It's tough to sustain a 17-track album and it shows on tracks like Castaway and Let go. The album dips towards the end, as suggested by Fall with me, the last track on disc one. One wishes that there were fewer tracks.. thus a tighter album.

If you're a PVD fan, don't expect anything like his previous CDs The Politics of Dancing and the Grammy-nominated Reflections. He's turned producer with this one. Though the effort is commendable, sometimes the results aren't.