4 Parakeets

While this second studio album from the multi-instrumentalist composer Jihad Darwish could easily have found its way into Jazzwise, there is enough experimentalism here to warrant a Fusion review. In a nutshell, 4 Parakeets brings together Indian classical music and jazz.

Darwish designed the album around the traditional Indian raga structures, and his sitar playing is the predominant sound throughout. He also plays double bass, guitar, electric bass, piano and drums, while singing (in English) across eight tracks in an ethereal and dreamy manner. He is accompanied by clarinetist Idris Rahman of the London-based Afrobeat and reggae band, Soothsayers, flautist and saxophonist Tamar Osborn, jazz singer Jo Harrop and jazz drummer Wesley Gibbens.

While Darwish's wide-ranging musical education touches on African highlife and Indonesian gamelan, the tone here is of an exploratory fusion of jazz and Indian classical music that seeks to create a dreamscape of elusive qualities that will reward the repeat listener. The sitar playing is impressive and lends a unique character to this record. However, I’d avoid it if you’re not a pretty keen jazz aficionado.