Review: MAHINDRA BLUES SPECIAL at Jazz At The Lincoln Center

The Mahindra Blues Special celebrated the annual February festival in Mumbai while connecting a trio of talented performers to New Yorkers at Damrosch Park at the Lincoln Center. Presented in collaboration between the Mahindra Blues Festival and Jazz at the Lincoln Center, this particular performance featured Indian-born Aayushi Karnik alongside Brianna Thomas, performing “Ella Sang the Blues,” and Corey Harris, who “mixes New Orleans, Caribbean, and African influences” together. Each performer was given roughly thirty minutes and four songs to wow the audience, and for those who braved a bit of rain, it was well worth the temporary wait to see good music, while the crowd continued to grow with each song.

Karnik performed some originals, alongside the show tune “On Broadway.” Her funky guitar distortions recalled the classic Hendrix, as she and her band kicked off the show. Each song found a comfortable tone, blending that funky sound with yearning lyrics, following a standard song format supported by a somewhat jazzified beat and bass. Lyrics like “I’m a troublemaker, can’t stay out of trouble...If you come any closer, you’ll be trouble too” and “Trying to find a bedroom where I find my solid ground” from “Troublemaker” and “Solid Ground” highlight the possible search for love, stability, and acceptance that often underpin the blues. My favorite original line of hers came on the song, “Sunny Days” where she sang, “If sunny days could come back into my life, I’d pop the red wine.” On this particular song, I felt Karnik’s balance of rhythm and pace allowed the listener to sink into the sound and imagine what those sun shiny days might look like.

Brianna Thomas’s tribute to Ella Fitzgerald was a small selection of her many blues songs. This was my favorite of the three performances. Thomas’s guitarist, Franklin Rankin, and saxophonist, Greg Ward, were incredible, and the chemistry they had interplaying with each other, Thomas, and the rest of the band, magnificent. As Thomas described, Ella did really sing everything, but the blues have a special ring to them that not only fits Ella well but also Thomas. From “See, See Rider” to “Ooo, Baby, Baby,” everything felt right and sounded clean, as Thomas directed her band to play and the audience to sing along. The lyrics from song to song told a story too, as the lines, “When I find me a good man, I won’t be back at all,” from her opening song, were followed by “Ain’t it lonesome when your lover can’t be found” from “In the Evening” and, later, “Sugar Blues,” where that feeling of missing your lover is still considered happy. However, it was the line “I did you wrong...In the game I lost you, what a price to pay,” from “Ooo, Baby, Baby,” where short story came to an end, as Thomas’s sharp vocals cut through the chilly summer night, spinning the tale of a flame started and squelched.

Corey Harris and the Corey Harris band rounded out the evening, and there are almost not enough good things to say about this man and his legendary skill.  It appeared he even pulled out a steel diddley bow mid-song,  after wrapping up his solid performance on guitar through the first half of his set, to dazzle the crowd even more. He started it off with "Chicken Man" about a vagabond in the French Quarter of New Orleans, back in the day, chiming “The voodoo man, mojo man...you can’t catch him. He’s the Chicken Man” and followed it up with the classic “Catfish Blues.” He brought in a mix of original work and classics, singing “Frankie Doris” before it felt like half the audience sang the chorus of “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” As the sky darkened, the staff let him stay on the stage for a few more, as he pulled out an acoustic guitar and did some solo songs with the lines, “Lord I know my time ain’t long” and “we got to be lost before we can be found,” catching the heart. He also provided the strong advice “Everybody, they ought to change sometime...change my money, change my honey” as perhaps the most memorable gift of the night, alongside that reminder that if “if you let the [devil] ride, he gonna want to drive.”

Corey Harris has numerous albums out, and Brianna Thomas is frequently at Jazz at the Lincoln Center. Karnik, a rising star, is sure to grace another New York stage soon. Keep an eye out for all three to get your Blues fix.

Visit everyone's websites, find the links below:

Corey Harris

Aayushi Karnik

Brianna Thomas

Jazz At Lincoln Center

 

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