Nivesana is a beautiful CD. A seamless integration of Indian classical music, avant garde jazz, and electronic wizardry, the CD is a collaboration between legendary multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and percussionist Ravi Padmanabha. "Nivesana" is a Pali word with multiple meanings: it means entering, home, settling, and it also means attachment, clinging to. Part of the beauty of the CD is the way Carter and Padmanabha explore all sides of the word: the music certainly has a deep, centered quality, and yet it's also haunting, urgent with a sense of mystery and occasional melancholy.
Whenever Carter appears on a CD, there's always a wealth of sound as he draws on his mastery of saxophones, trumpet, flute, and clarinet. Combined with Padmanabha's repertoire—drums, cymbals, tabla, moorsing (jaw harp), percussion, and electronic skill—the possibilities are wide open, and the resulting music multi-layered and rich. The seven songs on Nivesana flow into each other effortlessly, creating a cohesive mood and also a sense of journey. This is one of those wonderful CDs that provide an inspiring accompaniment to creating art, whether it's writing, painting, movement, or just plain daydreaming.
Carter can hardly be praised enough; he's a master of creative music, and has played with everyone from Sun Ra to Medeski, Martin, and Wood to the No Neck Blues Band. Padmanabha is clearly a musician to watch. He's paid his dues in both the world of Indian classical music and avant-garde jazz, and he's at ease taking the old forms and infusing them with a fresh, inventive energy. Nivesana is the happy result of two large talents listening to one another closely, and with any luck this duo will release more music in future days.
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