The history of the sitar in jazz, that is the fusion of the sounds of Indian Classical music with Western jazz, dates back from the late-1950s or early-1960s when musicians trained in Indian Classical music such as Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 started collaborating with jazz musicians such as Tony Scott

Tony Scott (musician)

Tony Scott was a jazz clarinetist known for an interest in folk music around the world...

 and Bud Shank

Bud Shank

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...

. Later jazz recordings containing sitar music include albums by Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

, Yusef Lateef

Yusef Lateef

Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...

, Joe Harriott

Joe Harriott

Joseph Arthurlin 'Joe' Harriott was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone....

 (in collaboration with composer John Mayer

John Mayer (composer)

John Mayer was an Indian composer known primarily for his fusions of jazz with Indian music...

), and Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

.

Early uses of the Sitar in Jazz

Although music based around the sitar would later spread from jazz to more popular music via The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, the sitar became more widely known in the western world mainly through the work of Indian musicians such as Pandit Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

, beginning in the late 1950s. From there it was taken up by jazz musicians and would later became a youth phenomenon in the mid-1960s after Beatle George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

 took lessons from Ananda Shankar, nephew of Pandit Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

, and played sitar on several songs.

The first recorded collaboration between Indian and Jazz musicians occurred in 1961 with Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 and a group led by the West Coast American saxophonist/flautist Bud Shank

Bud Shank

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...

. Their album entitled Improvisations only features one track, "Improvisations on the theme music from Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...

," in which Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 and the Western musicians play together. The track is remarkable for little else; it is simply Western film music with the sitar playing the melody. However, it is interesting to note that this session, and that of film composer Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar Jaikishan , also known as S/J, is an Indian music composer duo in the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949–1971....

 (1968), were connected the film industry, for Indian film music surely contributes the most considerable corpus of music that combines Indian and Western musics.

However, both Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 and Ananda Shankar are important figures with regard to Jazz because it was primarily through their music that John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

 and others became aware of Indian music. Tony Scott

Tony Scott (musician)

Tony Scott was a jazz clarinetist known for an interest in folk music around the world...

 recorded a track entitled "Portrait of Ravi" on his Dedications album, as early as 1957.

Coltrane met Shankar in 1965 after a long period of mutual admiration and letter writing (Thomas 1975:199). Coltrane's name is inextricably linked to the emergence of modal Jazz in 1958 on Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

' album Milestones and it is believed that modal Jazz was inspired by Indian music. Indian influence is an important issue in the later music of Coltrane such as the album Kulu Sé Mama

Kulu Sé Mama

Kulu Sé Mama is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane. Recorded during 1965, it was released in early 1967 as Impulse! A-9106 . The title piece and "Selflessness" were recorded in October 1965 and feature a large ensemble including Sanders, Garrett, Butler and Lewis...

 (1965) and also of musicians such as Yusef Lateef

Yusef Lateef

Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...

 and Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

.

Collin Walcott

In America, the profile of the sitar in Jazz was maintained by Collin Walcott

Collin Walcott

Collin Walcott was a North American musician. He was a student of Ravi Shankar and Vasant Rai. Collin expanded the role of the sitar in western music. Walcott studied music and ethnomusicology at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and at The University of California at Los Angeles...

 (b. New York 1945; d. near Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

, East Germany 1984). After graduating from Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 in 1967, where his major study was percussion, he travelled to Los Angeles to study sitar with Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 and tabla with Alla Rakha, then the most famous tabla player in the West (Kernfield 1988:588).

The most significant corpus of his output was with the groups Oregon, Codona and his own quartet, despite a prolific career as a sideman for players such as Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 and Egberto Gismonti

Egberto Gismonti

Egberto Gismonti Amin is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.Gismonti began his formal music studies at the age of six on piano. After studying classical music for 15 years, he went to Paris to study orchestration and analysis with Nadia Boulanger and the composer Jean Barraqué, a disciple...

. Walcott was heavily influenced by John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

's Quartet (Cook & Morton 1992)

Walcott, like Mayer, is musically bi-lingual which helps to explain why the Indian and Western aspects of his musics fit together far more comfortably than previous experiments. Whilst Mayer acted as a bridge between musicians of two cultures, Walcott, like Coltrane, absorbed the Indian music and assimilated it within his own music. His quartet consisted of other American musicians so that the feeling of empathy between the musicians, which is a pre-requisite of good group improvisation, is maintained.

Walcott created a sitar technique which is not found in Indian music. This involves stopping more than one string to create harmonies, usually thirds.

Nishat Khan

The more recent excursion of the sitar into Jazz is that of the sitar player Nishat Khan

Nishat Khan

Nishat Khan is an Indian sitar player and son of surbahar player Imrat Khan.Khan was born in the mid-1960s in Kolkata. He performed with musicians of the genres jazz, Gregorian chant, flamenco and Western classical music. In August 2002, Khan performed for the Diet of Japan in Tokyo and played in...

 who is highly regarded as an Indian Classical player. His first experience of playing with a jazz musician was a trio with the guitarist John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

 who has been collaborating with Indian musicians since the mid-seventies with groups such as Shakti

Shakti

Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...

.

In the Nineties, Nishat Khan

Nishat Khan

Nishat Khan is an Indian sitar player and son of surbahar player Imrat Khan.Khan was born in the mid-1960s in Kolkata. He performed with musicians of the genres jazz, Gregorian chant, flamenco and Western classical music. In August 2002, Khan performed for the Diet of Japan in Tokyo and played in...

 was working on his own Jazz project. He rehearsed with American alto saxophonist Steve Coleman

Steve Coleman

Steve Coleman, born , is an African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.-Chicago:...

 and recorded with a band which consisted of Django Bates

Django Bates

Django Bates , is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. He currently lives in Copenhagen where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory and leader of the StoRMChaser orchestra.-Career:Django Bates was born in Beckenham,...

 (keyboards), Mark Mondesir (electric bass), Martin France

Martin France

Martin France is an English jazz drummer based in London. He has been the rhythmic backbone on more than 60 albums working with some of the world's finest musicians....

 (drums), and two drummers from Africa. The group did not perform in public, and the recording was not released.

Andrew Cheshire

In 2006, Andrew Cheshire

Andrew Cheshire

Andrew Cheshire is an American jazz guitarist.As a child, Andrew played the piano, but switched to the guitar at age 10. While majoring in fine art in high school, he played jazz in local bands around Long Island. By 1980, Andrew moved to Brooklyn where he began attending jam sessions at the clubs...

 released Silent Trees Falling, an album composed solely of
electric sitar in a mostly trio setting. Widely regarded as an unheralded master of jazz
guitar, Cheshire combined raw jazz improvisation with an eastern flavored vocabulary resulting
in a record that captures the spontaneity of jazz coupled with the sonority of the far east.

Comparative View of Jazz and Indian Classical Music

Indian music is the greatest tradition of improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

 in the East. Therefore it is unsurprising that Jazz musicians, which have become the greatest exponents of improvisation in the West, have developed a certain fascination for Indian musicians and vice versa. Coltrane was fascinated by Indian music. Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...

 returned to improvised music, after a phase of playing entirely Western Classical music, on hearing a concert of Indian Classical music

Indian classical music

The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...

 which he claims was "a reminder that what I was doing was not music" (in Carr 1991:157). This statement reveals that to Jarrett, who is primarily a Jazz musician, Indian music contains something intrinsic to his conception of music that does not exist in Western Classical music.

Both Jazz and Indian music are commonly described as improvised music but in fact, composition is integral to both arts. Compositions are used mainly as a springboard for improvisation and would probably account for about a tenth of a performance in both traditions. One of the functions of the composition is to define the structure upon which the improvisation is based. In Indian music, the gat is always played at the beginning of the final portion of an exposition of a rag by the soloist and from this, the tabla player is expected to join in. It is not uncommon for the tabla to have not been told what the tal or what tempo is to be used and would be expected to derive this information from the gat which he may not have heard before. If the soloist wishes to change to a new tal or tempo (other than by acceleration) it is signalled by playing a different gat.

The presentation of the two main instruments in jugalbandi (duet) has become common both in India and outside. What happens in Jugalbandi is not unlike the organisation of collective improvisation in jazz, in the sense that the musicians come together in the precomposed song or whatever the basis of the piece, and otherwise take it in turns to improvise in a spirit both of cooperation and friendly cooperation (Sorrell 1989:2).

In Jazz, the structure of the improvisation is most usually defined by the 'head' which normally comprises a melody and a harmonic structure, but could contain more or less structural information such as changes of feel e.g. from swing to salsa, or changes of tempo or meter. The standard form of a jazz performance would start with the `head' which might be 32 bars long. Then, the musicians would take it in turn to improvise over this cyclic structure. The performance ends with a recapitulation of the 'head'.

Improvisations in both musics take place within cyclic frameworks, with the notable exception of free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

 which consciously eschews predetermined structures. The ability to learn to use these frameworks to assist and inspire improvisation is really the essence of both art forms. Being able to maintain one's place in the tal is precisely analogous to 'keeping the form' in Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 playing. In fact, there are distinct similarities between the Sam (first beat) of the tal and 'top of the form', the first beat of repeating structure, in Jazz. The special feature of the Sam is that phrases either start or end on it, reinforcing the notion that the tal is a 'circular' structure. Whilst there is no such formalisation in Jazz of the `top of the form', there is no doubt that musicians often use the `top of the form' as the point of maximum release of tension.

Discography

This is a chronological catalogue of recordings which have featured the sitar within a jazz (or indo-jazz) context.

• Ravi Shankar- Improvisations

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 (sitar), Kanai Dutta (tabla, pakhavaj), Modu Mullick (tanpura), Harihar Rao (dholak, tanpura), Bud Shank

Bud Shank

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...

 (flute), Dennis Budimur (guitar), Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock is an American jazz double-bassist.-Biography:After military service in Germany, in the early sixties he worked on the west coast with Barney Kessel, Bud Shank, Paul Bley and Art Pepper, then moved to New York. He worked there with Bley, the Bill Evans trio , and Albert Ayler's trio...

 (bass), Louis Hayes

Louis Hayes

Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...

 (drums)

"Improvisation on the Theme Music from Pather Pancali"
"Fire Night"
"Karnataki"
"Raga Rageshri"
Hollywood, California, 1961
Liberty Records Ltd, London [LBL 830 76 E]

• Ravi Shankar (with Paul Horn
  Paul Horn (jazz musician)
  Paul Horn is an American jazz flautist, and is considered by some to be a pioneer of New Age music.-Biography:Paul Horn was born in New York City, and began playing the piano at the age of 4 and the saxophone at the age of 12...
  
  )- Portrait of a Genius

Ravi Shankar (sitar), Paul Horn (flute, alto sax)
1965
World Pacific, [WPS 1432]

• Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet- Indo-Jazz Suite

Joe Harriott

Joe Harriott

Joseph Arthurlin 'Joe' Harriott was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone....

 (alto sax), Eddie Blair (trumpet and flugelhorn), Pat Smythe (piano), Rick Laird

Rick Laird

Richard Quentin 'Rick' Laird is a jazz musician, born on 5 February 1941. He is a bass player best known for his place in The Mahavishnu Orchestra....

 (bass), Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....

 (drums), John Mayer (violin and harpsichord), Diwan Motihar (sitar), Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor may refer to:*Chris Taylor , owner of TMKO Lawyers & Last Gang Records*Chris Taylor , comedian, best known from The Chaser's War on Everything, CNNNN and Triple J...

(flute), Keshav Sathe

Keshav Sathe

Keshav Sathe is an Indian tabla player, best-known for his contributions to the Indo-Jazz Fusion genre. Among his significant collaborations er the ones with Joe Harriott and John Mayer in 1965-70; Irene Schweizer trio, Barney Wilen and Manfred Schoof in 1967; and later work with John Renbourn,...

 (tabla), Chandrhas Paigankar (tanpura)

"Overture"
"Contrasts"
"Raga Megha"
"Raga Gaud-Saranga"
London, 1966
EMI Records 1966 [SX 6025]

• Jazz Meets India

Irene Shweitzer (piano), (bass), (drums), Diwan Motihar (sitar), (tabla), (tanpura)
1967

• Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet- Indo-Jazz Fusions

Double record set

Joe Harriott (alto sax), Shake Keane

Shake Keane

Ellsworth McGranahan “Shake” Keane was a jazz musician, poet and government minister...

 (trumpet and flugelhorn), Coleridge Goode (bass), Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....

 (drums), John Mayer (violin, harpsichord), Diwan Motihar (sitar), Chandrahas Paigankar (tanpura), Keshav Sathi (tabla), Chris Taylor (flute)

"Multani" (Mayer)
"Gana" (Mayer)
"Acka Raga" (Mayer)
"Subject" (Mayer/Harriott)
London, 1967
Double-Up Duos 1968 [123-1]

Joe Harriott (alto sax), Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler

Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....

 (trumpet, flugelhorn), Pat Smythe (Piano), Coleridge Goode (bass), Jackie Dougan

Jackie Dougan

Jackie Dougan was a British jazz drummer.A member of Tommy Whittle's and Eddie Thompson's groups in the 1950s, he joined the Dick Morrissey Quartet in the early 1960s...

 (bass), John Mayer (violin [and harpsichord]), Diwan Motihar (sitar), Chandrahas Paigankar (tanpura), Keshav Sathi (tabla), Chris Taylor (drums)

"Raga Piloo" (Mayer)
"Song Before Sunrise" (Mayer)
"Purvi Variations" (Mayer)
"Mishra Blues" (Mayer/Smythe)
London, 1968
Double-Up Duos 1968 [123-2]

• Shankar Jaikishan
  Shankar Jaikishan
  Shankar Jaikishan , also known as S/J, is an Indian music composer duo in the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949–1971....
  
  - Raga Jazz Style

Ustad Rais Khan (sitar), Manohari Singh (sax), John Pereira (trumpet), Lucilla (piano), Leslie Godinho (drums), Eddie Travers (bass), Dilip Naik (electric guitar), Anibal Castro (electric guitar), Suman (flute), Ramakant (tabla), Dattaram (assistant), Sebastian D'Souza (arrangement). Music by Shankar Jaikishan.

"Raga Todi"
"Raga Bhairav"
"Raga Malkauns"
"Raga Kalavanti"
"Raga Tilak Kamod"
"Raga Miyan Malhav"
"Raga Bairagi"
"Raga Jaijaivanti"
"Raga Mishra Pilu"
"Raga Shiranjani"
"Raga Bhairvi"
1968
Gramophone Company of India Ltd [ECS 2377]

• John Mayer- Indo-Jazz Fusions Etudes

John Mayer (composer and director of all tracks, violin and harpsichord), Chris Taylor (flute), Ian Hamer (trumpet and flugelhorn), Tony Coe

Tony Coe

Anthony George Coe is a composer and jazz musician who plays clarinet, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone.Coe began his performing career playing with Humphrey Lyttelton's band from 1957 to 1962...

 (tenor sax and clarinet), Pat Smythe

Pat Smythe

Patricia Rosemary Smythe , most commonly known as Pat Smythe, was one of Britain's premier female showjumpers. She later married in 1960 after the Summer Olympics of the year to childhood friend Sam Koechlin and became Patricia Koechlin-Smythe...

 (piano), Coleridge Goode (bass), John Marshall

John Marshall

John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...

 (drums), Diwan Motihar (sitar), Viram Jasani (sitar, tabla, tanpura), Kevan
Sathe (table [sic!])

"Intro and Rondo"
"Cappricio"
"Serenade"
"Toccata"
"Sarabande"
London, 1969
Sonnet Records [SNTF63]
all titles published by Lupur Music Ltd

• Tony Scott- Homage to Lord Krishna

Tony Scott (Clarinet), Collin Walcott (sitar)
1969
Verve Records 1969 [68788]

• Oregon- Our First Record

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner

Ralph Towner

Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...

 (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1970
Vanguard Records 1970 [79432]

• Miles Davis- On the Corner

Miles Davis (trumpet), Collin Walcott (sitar)
1972
Columbia Records 1972 [KC 31906]

• Paul Winter- Icarus

Paul Winter, Collin Walcott (sitar)
1972
Epic [31643]

• Oregon- Music of Another Present Era

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)

1973
Vanguard Records [VSD 79326]

• Oregon- Distant Hills

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)

Aurora
Dark Spirit (Towner)
Canyon Song
Song for a Friend
Confession (free improvisation)
1973
Vanguard Records 1974 [VSD 79341]

• Collin Walcott- Cloud Dance

Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla), John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie (guitarist)

John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...

 (guitar), Dave Holland

Dave Holland

Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....

 (bass), Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...

 (drums)

Marguerite (Collin Walcott, BMI)
Prancing (Collin Walcott, BMI)
Night Glider (Collin Walcott, BMI)
Scimitar (Collin Walcott/John Abercrombie, BMI)
Vadana (Dave Holland, BMI)
Eastern Song (Collin Walcott, BMI)
Padma (Collin Walcott/ John Abercrombie, BMI)
Cloud Dance (Collin Walcott, BMI)
Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, March 1975
ECM Records 1976 [ECM 1062]

• Oregon- In Concert

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)

Introduction (George Schutz)
Become, Seem, Appear (Oregon)
Summer Solstice (Towner)
UnderTow (McCandless)
The Silence of a Candle (Towner)
Tryton's Horn (Oregon)
Yet to be (Towner)
New York, April 8 & 9, 1975
Vanguard Records 1976 [VSD 79358]

• Oregon- Together

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1976
Vanguard Records 1976 [79397]

• Oregon- Friends

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1977
Vanguard Records 1977 [79370]

• Miles Davis- Get Up With It

Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 (trumpet), Sonny Fortune

Sonny Fortune

Sonny Fortune is an American jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He also plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and clarinet.-Biography:...

 (Alto sax, flute), Carlos Garnett, John Stubblefield (alto sax), Steve Grossman (soprano sax), David Liebman (flute), Wally Chambers

Wally Chambers

Wallace Hashim Chambers is a former American football defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears and defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1970s...

 (harmonica), Cedric Lawson (piano, organ), Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

, Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...

 (keyboards), Pete Cosey, Cornell Dupree

Cornell Dupree

Cornell Luther Dupree was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman, and wrote a book on soul and blues guitar: Rhythm and Blues Guitar ISBN 0-634-00149-3...

, Dominique Gaumont, Reggie Lucas, John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

 (guitar), Khalil Balakrishna (sitar), Michael Henderson (bass), Billy Cobham

Billy Cobham

William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....

, Al Foster

Al Foster

Al Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...

, Bernard Purdie

Bernard Purdie

Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk...

 (drums), Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...

, Mtume, Badal Roy (percussion), Additional brass and rhythm arrangements by Wade Jarcus and Billy Jackson.
New York, 1970-74
Core/Line [CLCD 9.009827/8]

• Collin Walcott- Grazing Dreams

Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla), John Abercrombie (electric and acoustic guitars, electric mandolin), Don Cherry

Don Cherry (jazz)

Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...

(Trumpet, wood flute, doussn'gouni), Palle Danielson (bass), Dom Um Romao (berimbau, chica [sic! cuica], tambourine, percussion)

Song of the Morrow (Collin Walcott, Grazing Dreams Music)
Gold Sun (Collin Walcott/Don Cherry, Grazing Dreams Music)
The Swarm (Collin Walcott, Grazing Dreams Music)
Mountain Morning (Group improvisation, Grazing Dreams Music)
Jewel Ornament (Don Cherry/John Abercrombie/Collin Walcott,Grazing Dreams Music)
Grazing Dreams (Collin Walcott, Grazing Dreams Music)
Samba Tala (Don Um Romao/Collin Walcott, Berimbau Music Prod.) Moon Lake (Group Improvisation, Grazing Dreams Music)
Oslo, February 1977
ECM Records 1977 [ECM 1096]

• Egberto Gismonti- Sol Do Meio Dia

Egberto Gismonti (guitar), Collin Walcott (sitar)
1977
ECM Records 1977 [ECM 1116]

• Oregon- Out of the Woods

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1978
Elektra 1978 [154]

• Oregon- Violin

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1978
Vanguard Records 1978 [79397]

• Collin Walcott/ Don Cherry/ Nana Vasconcelos- Codona

Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, hammered dulcimer, Sanza, voice), Don Cherry (trumpet, flutes, doussn'gouni, voice), Nana Vasconcelos (Berimbau, Cuica, Percussion, voice)

Like That of Sky (Walcott)
Codona (Cherry/Walcott/Vasconcelos)
Colemanwonder
a) Race Face (Ornette Coleman)
b) Sortie (Ornette Coleman)
c) Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)
Mumakata (Walcott)
New Light (Walcott)
Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, September 1978
ECM Records 1979 [ECM 1132]

Oregon- `Oregon in Performance'

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, wooden flute), Glen Moore (bass, flute, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (12-string and classical guitars), Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, clarinet, percussion, congas)
1979
Elektra 1979[304]

Collin Walcott/ Steve Eliovson- `Dawn Dance'

Collin Walcott (sitar), Steve Eliovson (guitar)
January 1981
ECM Records 1981 [ECM 1198]

Collin Walcott/ Don Cherry/ Nana Vasconcelos- `Codona 2'

Collin Walcott (sitar, tabla, sanza, tipmani, voice), Don Cherry (trumpet, organ, doussn'gouni, voice), Nana Vasconcelos (berimbau, mluvici bubinek (?), voice)

Que Faser (Nana Vasconcelos)
Godumaduma (Traditional African)
Malinye (Don Cherry)
Drip-Dry (Ornette Coleman)
Walking on Eggs (Collin Walcott)
Again and Again, Again (Collin Walcott)
Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, 1980
ECM Records 1983 [ECM 1177]

Collin Walcott/ Don Cherry/ Nana Vasconcelos- `Codona 3'

Collin Walcott (sitar, hammered dulcimer, sanza, tabla, voice), Don Cherry (trumpet, organ, doussn'gouni, voice), Nana Vasconcelos (berimbau, percussion, voice)

Goshabuchi (Japanese Traditional, Codona Music- ASCAP)
Hey Da Ba Doom (Collin Walcott, Grazing Dreams Music- ASCAP)
Lullaby (Collin Walcott, Grazing Dreams Music- ASCAP)
Trayra Boia (Nana Vasconcelos/ Denise Milan, Nana's Music- BMI)
Clicky Clacky (Don Cherry, Eternal River Music- BMI)
Inner Organs (Don Cherry, Eternal River Music- BMI)
Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, September 1982
ECM Records 1983 [ECM 1243]

Oregon- `Oregon'

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, tin flute, soprano sax), Glen Moore (bass, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (Prophet-5, piano, classical guitar), Collin Walcott (sitar, percussion, tongue drum, bass drum, voice)

The Rapids (Towner)
Beacon (Oregon)
Taos (Oregon)
Beside a Brook (McCandless)
Ariana (Moore)
There Was No Moon That Night (Oregon)
Skyline (Oregon)
Impending Bloom (Moore)
Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, February 1983
ECM Records 1983, [ECM 1258]

Oregon- `Crossing'

McCandless (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, tin flute, soprano sax), Glen Moore (bass, violin, piano), Ralph Towner (Prophet-5, piano, classical guitar), Collin Walcott (sitar, percussion, tongue drum, bass drum, voice)

Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, October 19

Andrew Cheshire- `Silent Trees Falling'

Cheshire (electric sitar), Joe Michaels (bass), Jared Lippi (Drums), Bhooshit Dikshitar (tanpura)

Legend of Osiris (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Beamot (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Parallel Universe (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Chitraratha (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Photosynthesis (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Dervish Dance (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Remember the Malamo (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
How to Stuff a Wild Bhairavi (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)
Silent trees Falling (Cheshire, Ellsworth Music -BMI)

Joule Records 2006, [Joule 11]