Taj Mahal Foxtrot

This is a wonderful new book by Naresh Fernandes about the jazz scene in Bombay between roughly 1935-1967. In the words of the author himself:

"Taj Mahal Foxtrot unfolds between 1935 and 1967. It listens to a tumultuous period in the history of India – and the city of Bombay – through the ears of jazz musicians and jazz fans. It is about a quest for freedom, both political and artistic. It follows the circular movement of jazz from the ghettoes of New Orleans to elite Bombay ballrooms and back again to the street as a pulsating element in Hindi film music. It describes how India became a battleground on which hot jazz was deployed during the Cold War. It reaches back into the pre-history of jazz, recalling the tours of nineteenth-century minstrelsy troupes of white people who put on blackface to perform “negroisms” to audiences of brown people." 

The blog relating to the book is: http://www.tajmahalfoxtrot.com (It has some wonderful old scores)
And a Review: http://books.hindustantimes.com/2012/02/review-taj-mahal-foxtrot/


I must purchase this book!