Jesse Bannister writes about his new project ‘Play Out’ which sees him playing with Zoe Rahman, Seb Rochford, and Kenny Higgins. It has its first outing on the 17th April 2013 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall…

It fills me with great pleasure to be débuting in my home town of London with this brand new project.

A 15 year musical journey has led me to this point (I did get a little distracted on the way); first my interest was in jazz, then I became very focused on Indian classical music for many years. I was fortunate to have amazing teachers along the way and to play with some incredibly talented artists including Bickram Ghosh and Ustad Sukhvinder Singh.

Now the journey comes full circle. I feel very blessed to have the fortune of playing with these three incredible musicians. I was fortunate in meeting with Zoe Rahman. She is a great jazz player, extremely dedicated and hard working. She has brought a huge amount to the project with her understanding of jazz and Indian music.

The drummer Seb Rochford plays in many genres and is very versatile. He is a great ear for the whole sound and adds melodic and harmonic suggestions as well as providing great grooves.

Kenny Higgins -I have known for 20 years and have played with him in many settings. He is always my first choice for a bass player and brings a real solidity to the overall sound.

The concert at Southbank features all the tracks from the new album ‘Play Out’, and a taste of one of the tracks entitled ‘The Pearl’ is at the top of this article.

I feel that we have created our own style through everyone’s input and I have seen my compositions really come to life. Rather than this being a fusion of Indian and Jazz I would more describe this as a meeting and a coming together of these two genres. I am at ease with both and feel that each feeds the other in terms of improvisation, melody, harmony, groove, subtlety and clarity. Alchemy 2013 at the South Bank is a truly fitting occasion to share this great music with all Indo/Jazz lovers. I am excited and inspired and ready to ‘Play Out’. We hope to see you there.