Trio Benares „RAJAS“ (CD-PRESENTATION)



Deobrat Mishra – Sitar, Roger Hanschel – Saxophone, Prashant Mishra – Tabla

There has been a force of gravity between Indian classical music and jazz for many decades -- the push and pull of improvisation, the exciting rhythmic language. Founded in , the
Trio Benares continues on this path of tradition. As part of a seventh generation musical family, sitar player Deobrat Mishra has reached a prominent place amongst his peers. In collaboration with his nephew Prashant Mishra, a rising star among Indian tabla players, he forms a perfect unit. Roger Hanschel, surely one of the most extravagant, multifaceted saxophone players and composers of contemporary jazz, communes with the sensual and brilliant sound of Deobrat Mishra‘s sitar. In turn, Hanschel‘s rhythmic finesse finds its equivalent in the virtuosic tabla playing of Prashant Mishra. While steeped in tradition, Trio Benares brings a freshness to both musical styles.

“In his new band, Roger Hanschel seeks an encounter with North Indian classical music. His trio Benares plays with a temperament and a virtuosity that can rip a listener out of his or her seat.
Lightning fast themes, rousing solos, clever innovations – we haven’t heard such a convincing Indo-jazz project for a long time.”
Hans-Jürgen Schaal, Jazzthetik, July-August/

“... the young, well-traveled Indians and the experienced Hanschel display virtuoso playfulness: They slide from the dance-like to the contemplative, break out of the fine beauty of predetermined, vocal topics into a frenzy of self-invention. The way Hanschel takes his lifelong experience of jazz improvisation and respectfully links it with the modal characteristics of the Indian tradition – this must be called unique.”
(Ulrich Olshausen, Faz, May )





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