Despite his busy schedule as a jazz sexophoneist and instructor in the US, Carl Clements have always preferred “visiting Mumbai”, for each of his Bansuri lessons from Nitanand Haldipur, who have been his gurus since 1999.
Carl’s latest visit to India, in July, came after a gap of seven years. “The first had a break due to the epidemic, and then, I had other commitments,” they say. While participating in classes regularly, he also met his friends from the Mumbai Jazz community, besides playing two shows at a Jazz-Theme venue Blubop Cafe in the suburban Khar. Carl says, “Adrian D’Souza (drummer) is an old friend and invited me when he heard that I was coming down.” Carl, thus played both with the guitarist Sanjay Divecha, on the first show, and with Adrian, both keyboard Rahul Wadhwani and Basist Shashank Das in the show.
Carl shared an interesting story about his Indian music trip. Growing at Chemsford near Boston, he was “surrounded by jazz” due to his father’s hobby for style. Carl Pianoists Dave Brubech and Alto Saxophoneist Charlie took to the Parker, and soon decided to learn Saxophone. He learned from Jerry Bergonji and followed his advice to practice six hours a day. Later, he learned from Saxophoneist George Garzone and Joe Vayola.
While studying music at Barkali College of Music, Boston and California Institute of the Arts, Carl wanted to find out what else was happening in the world of improvisedness. This is why he attracted him to Indian music. “I read that John Coltorn (Saxophoneist) liked Indian music, especially Pt. Ravi Shankar.
Karl’s guru and famous floatist Nityananda Haldipur | Photo Credit: M. Vedan
Carl recall how his friends, who were studying South Indian music, shared some Veena recording with him. “I slowly started searching for Indian music and turned to Hindustani. In California, I met Amiya Dasgupta, a disciple of PT Ravi Shankar. Although he played the role of a sitar, he taught me singing and theory. I met his former disciple, David Philipson, who started me on Bansuri.”
Carl also learned Bansuri from Steve Gourne in California and says, “He never thought of visiting India to learn”, but, when his wife, an artist also received a Fulbright Grant, things changed. Although he spent time in the south, Karl was with him but stayed in Mumbai. He met American Bassist de Wood, who introduced him to Fusion Band – Divya’s composer Deonshah Sanjana. “Din Shah invited me to play with Divya, where I met Bassist Sanjay Swamy, aka Storms in my recording studio. One thing met the other and other Jazz musicians. Ranjit Barot introduced me to Louis Banks and suddenly, I was playing with them all. Still, India’s main purpose was the main objective of India.”
The discovery of a guru inspired Karl for inflammatory Devendra Murdeshwar, who was the son -in -law of the legendary flotist Pannalal Ghosh. “He was not keeping well, so I could not learn from him. I met Nityanandji, who studied with Murdeshwar and later with Annapurna Devi. They are all related to the tradition of Baba Alauddin Khan, so everything is fit.”

In Karl’s latest album A different lightA piece called ‘Sanog’ is a strong Indian element. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Carl says that he has not made a conscious effort to regularly mix Indian music into his jazz compositions. “Indian music is huge, and I don’t believe in taking a little bit and adding it to my tunes. Like, I take my training seriously. But there are pieces that are inspired by Indian music, or the use of Bansuri. I was in the group, I was in the group, beautiful noise, where I have played Bansuri on the jazz peak. A different lightA piece called ‘Sanog’ has a strong Indian element. In the same album, ‘Good luck, bad luck (who knows)’, is Bansuri. ,
According to Carl, the tendency of American musicians using Indian influences is not as common as it was five decades ago. “Musicians are made aware of many global forms, they can experiment with various styles. There are some that do it, such as drummer Dan Weiss has made Tabla a part of his language. Bansuri players J Gandhi, guitarist Raz Abbasi and Brooklyn raga are a collectively involved.
His own focus is on Jazz. After returning to America, he plans to complete his next album. Will it have any effect from learning their Indian music? “These things are not planned, they are simply. We improve.” He smiles. Let’s wait and see.
Published – July 23, 2025 05:27 pm IST