Unbounded (Abaad)

Inspired by Hindustani classical lineage and by John McLaughlin's fusions with Shakti alike, the 45-year old Indian sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee has long been a leading figure in Indo-jazz fusion and Unbounded (Abaad) is perhaps his most ambitious work to date. With an epic cast of collaborators that includes Shakti tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, Béla Fleck and Snarky Puppy's Michael League, Chatterjee sets out to ‘create a sound that appeals to the greater diaspora,’ in which East and West meet on equal terms.

Over seven expansive tracks, Hindustani classical music collides thrillingly not only with Western jazz but with elements of blues, Latin, Sufi and Western pop music. Chatterjee himself is a formidable sitar player, whether plucking lightning-fast, heavily ornamented single-note runs or more meditative passages, but it's the cross-cultural combinations he creates that make this such a striking record. ‘Sukoon (Catharsis)’ is a marriage of ghazal vocals and floating spiritual jazz vibes. On ‘Lalitha (The Joyful Mother)’, his sitar combines felicitously with Fleck's banjo to create a meeting between Appalachian and Asian traditions, while ‘Nayi Shuruaat (New Beginnings)'is a dreamy confluence of sitar, jazz piano, trumpet, synths and sublime vocals that would not sound out of place on a Nitin Sawhney album.