Jazz and music of India, Pakistan, and Egypt overlap in work by Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra playing music by Carla Bley, Anglo-Indian percussionist Sarathy Korwar, and music from Cairo’s Maurice Louca.

Listen to the final commissioned work by the late composer, pianist, and bandleader Carla Bley called “Blue Palestine,” written for pianist Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. A four-part suite that experiments with Middle Eastern rhythms and scales, and South Asian sounds, “it also wanders into lots of other, less easily mapped places. Bley, by the way, hired a young Arturo O’Farrill to play piano in her big band when he was still a teenager, so this piece represents a closing of a circle. “Blue Palestine” recalls earlier Bley works – “A.I.R.” (All India Radio) from her early 70s masterpiece Escalator Over The Hill – in its willingness to bend to accommodate other forms of music and to inspire individual soloists while still somehow sounding like Carla Bley”,(Schaefer). Listen to some of “Blue Palestine”.

Then, listen to music from Anglo-Indian drummer and tabla player Sarathy Korwar together with the Upaj Collective in an arrangement of music by Alice Coltrane which combines East Indian music, jazz, and electronics. Then there’s music from Cairo-based guitarist and pianist Maurice Louca and a 12-piece ensemble of players from Italy, Iraq, Sweden, Turkey, and Denmark. On his record, Elephantine, Arabic melody, African and Yemeni music come together with the spiritual jazz of John and Alice Coltrane, the sounds of minimalism, and trance music. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik

Program #4976, Global Jazz  (First aired 2/10/2025)

ARTIST: Arturo O'Farrill & Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WORK: Dia de los Muertos -  II. La Bruja [1:30]
RECORDING: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley
SOURCE: ZOHO label
INFO: https://www.zohomusic.com/cds/ofarrill_mundoaqua.html

ARTIST: Arturo O'Farrill & Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WORK: Carla Bley: BLUE PALESTINE Part Two [5:34]
RECORDING: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley
SOURCE: ZOHO label
INFO: https://www.zohomusic.com/cds/ofarrill_mundoaqua.html

ARTIST: Arturo O'Farrill & Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WORK: Carla Bley: BLUE PALESTINE Part Three [8:58]
RECORDING: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley
SOURCE: ZOHO label
INFO: https://www.zohomusic.com/cds/ofarrill_mundoaqua.html

ARTIST: Arturo O'Farrill & Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WORK: A.I.R. [4:01]
RECORDING: Escalator over the Hill
SOURCE: ECM Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, TIDAL, Spotify, YouTube Music, and via Discogs

ARTIST: Les Miserables Brass Band Manic
WORK: Jhanibar Di Panwan Chankar(Jhanjhar Di Pawan Chankar) [4:04]
RECORDING: Manic Traditions
SOURCE: Northeastern Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic,\Spotify, YouTube Music, and via Discogs

ARTIST: Arturo O'Farrill & Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WORK: Dia de los Muertos -  II. La Bruja [4:35]
RECORDING: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley
SOURCE: ZOHO label
INFO: https://www.zohomusic.com/cds/ofarrill_mundoaqua.html

ARTIST: Sarathy Korwar feat. Upaj Collective
WORK: Alice Coltrane: Journey in Satchidanada [10:25]
RECORDING: My East Is Your West
SOURCE/INFO: sarathykorwar.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Maurice Louca
WORK: The Leper [5:39]
RECORDING: Elephantine
SOURCE: Northern Spy
INFO: northernspyrecs.com/product/elephantine