When we swayed away in a Jazz filled evening

Karim Ellaboudi, Benny Sones , D Wood

5th Veda at Whistling Woods International (WWI) continues to raise the bar with an exceptional and educational Jazz evening organized for the students. The program began with an AV on the method of reaching ‘Nirvana’ also called Moksha followed by an informative AV on Jazz culture and its influence on Indian cinema.

Anyone listening who had never shown any interest in Jazz music would most likely change their minds after witnessing a splendid Jazz performance by Karim Ellaboudi, a child prodigy on piano who’s also a skilled improvisational soloist, Benny Sones on drums and D Wood who’s also a Music teacher at WWI on guitar who gave a very impressive performance. Karim began by saying, “Jazz can’t be described. Its about improvisation according to a theme. Its a forum which very uniquely is also an analogy for life.”

The gentle and subtle tones played by the group created a mood of relaxation. A break in the music created an opportunity for a trio between the piano, drums, and guitar. Then the piece became more cheerful as a faster tempo emerged. The piece ended on a happy note. The audience was quite captivated throughout the entire performance, and the jazz waltz proved to be quite impressive as the audience clapped very loudly at the end as each player bowed in acceptance.

They were able to recreate through their instruments the pieces constructed in each composers’ mind. Each piece was played elaborately and beautifully. Then came the most moving and captivating performance of Heather Andrew who sang the well-blended diverse songs that she so eloquently weaved. Each piece flowed and moved every listener in the auditorium.

The surprise element of the evening was a spontaneous Jazz performance by a group of Whistling Woods students which forced everyone in the audience to join in the melody praising the school.

The entire evening was very riveting and enjoyable. These four musicians came together well and provided an energized finale to a great evening of music. As Meghna Puri, President WWI thanked them and quoted, “Jazz player juggles with harmony,” the three of them really lived up to it.