Beyond Bebop: The legendary guitarist Carlton Kitto was an essential part of the story of jazz in India

A few years they were looking for him. Fortunately they found him.

This is Carlton Kitto, jazz guitarist, perhaps India’s greatest ever — and a unique phenomenon even in the esoteric world of the jazz community in India.

Sadly, Carlton Kitto passed away in Kolkata on 28 November 2016. His life, his musical journey and his significance in the context of the jazz scene in India is indeed noteworthy.

A New York-based film maker, Susheel Kurien, has made a remarkable documentary film, Finding Carlton in about 2010. The “Carlton” being sought was Kitto of course, but the search was symbolic. Kurien was seeking to trace, through Carlton, the fascinating journey of evolution of jazz in India. He was right in picking Carlton Kitto as the focal point for this search; it led to some very interesting discoveries along the way. The film also put Kitto in focus for some extremely well deserved recognition.

An instant outcome of Finding Carlton was seen at the prestigious National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai in 2011. For the first-ever Jazz Festival held at the NCPA, Carlton Kitto’s band was the opening feature. This festival — Jazzmatazz 2011 — was a world class jazz festival and included some of the biggest names in international jazz. American jazz giants Jon Faddis, Steve Turre, Cedar Walton, Harsha Makalande, The Beets Brothers and others were also playing at this three-day festival. It was a proud moment and a fitting tribute to Carlton Kitto to not only be playing in such exalted company but also inaugurating the festival.

One remembers the press conference in Mumbai preceding the Jazzmatazz festival when Carlton Kitto shared the dais with Jon Faddis. Faddis was deferential to Kitto, having obviously read up about the latter’s career and contribution to jazz. The inference was that if Carlton Kitto had played in, say New Youk or Chicago instead of Kolkata, he would have been a world renowned jazz guitarist.

Carlton Kitto is truly symbolic of India’s jazz scene in so many ways. He certainly makes for the ideal place to follow the thread and trend of “Indian” jazz.

In the 1930s in the USA, jazz had evolved from its roots in New Orleans to become an extremely popular form of music. In the days of economic hardship following the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression and then Prohibition in America, jazz was a great social outlet. People would throng the dance halls prevalent at the time and dance away to the jazz played by live bands for an inexpensive way to spend an evening. Thus jazz became the popular (pop) music of the time and was heard over the radio and in the movies of that era. The big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glen Miller and others became huge successes and their jazz became very popular. However, after World War II, life took an upswing and it had a direct effect on the trend of jazz. Jazz music went away from the big bands and their dance music and in the impatient, frenetic times of rebuilding, a new sound — bebop — took root. In this form of jazz, created by such legends as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk among others, the music was lively, uptempo and not designed for dancing. This music usually involved breakneck speed playing which required a high level of skill and dexterity and as a consequence was played by a new generation of jazzmen.

The influence in India of these developments is an interesting sociological study. In the 1930s, large (big) bands played in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata and were very popular for dancing in large hotels. Later, after India’s independence, jazz bands, albeit smaller, played in restaurants and the dinner-dance phenomenon was very much in demand. This continued well into the seventies. Meanwhile, Carlton Kitto, born in Bengaluru, migrated to Kolkata where the jazz scene was vibrant.

Several British soldiers settled in Kolkata at the end of World War II. Notable among them was the fine jazz pianist Victor Feldman, who later was pianist with such jazz luminaries as Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley in the US. He was a bebop pianist and lived in Kolkatafor three years. His influence on local musicians was enormous. Carlton Kitto, under this influence, thrived as a jazz bebop guitarist. They call bebop “musician’s music” because of the high level of skill involved and Kitto had those virtues.

Kitto played jazz for the dance crowds in Kolkata’s famous Park Street, which had restaurants like Mocambo, Blue Fox, Trincas, Magnolia and others. Musicians such as Pam Crain, Chris Perry, Braz Gonsalves and particularly Louiz Banks, were Kitto’s contemporaries and band mates. In the 1970s, Louiz Banks and Kitto arrived in Mumbai to play in RD Burman’s band for Bollywood movies. Banks stayed on in Mumbai but Kitto was not willing to compromise on his love for bebop and moved back to Kolkata. He stayed on in Kolkata, teaching young students the art of his true love — bebop. Kitto lived very modestly, choosing to be true to his art and must have been artistically a very satisfied man as a result.

The bebop scene in India occupies a rarefied space. Apart from Kitto and Banks, saxophonist Braz Gonsalves, who now lives in Goa, the late “Jazzy” Joe Pereira, contemporary tenor man Giovanni Pereira and drummer Benny Soans are the other notable bebop exponents in India.

We spoke to Benny Soans who opined that there are only a handful of “boppers” in India because it is a difficult art to master and many musicians take the easy way out, concentrating on melodic standards. Interestingly, Soans featured in a concert named “Bebop” at the NCPA. He was also invited by American saxophonist Greg Banaszak earlier this year to play with his American band in Mumbai for a concert called “Ballads, Bebop and Beyond”.

Carlton Kitto has passed away but his beloved bebop lives! May his tribe increase.