Bourbon Street

Bourbon Street are a jazz-fusion band from Bangalore. A little difficult to categorise them because they also play a little bit of blues-rock and profess to be mostly a jam band. Since their sound is more often than not a mix between jazz and rock, we'll go with jazz rock. Although they do have a vocalist, they've only uploaded an instrumental online, and some covers. 

They're a six-member band. That's a fair number of people.
Fidel - Bass/Vocals
Bharath - Keys/Sound programming
Chester - Guitars
Ian-Djembe/Percussion
Sudhakar-Drums/Percussion
Jerome-Vocals/Harmonica

You can see what they look like below in left to right order.

I know, bad habit, but photo lifted from their
Facebook account without any permission whatsoever.

They played a very engaging set at Strawberry Fields. In fact, when they were playing, it started raining and everyone sought shelter. But about four of us were captivated enough to stay in front and listen to the entire set. That kind of thing is always nice, right?

They might be named after "Moon Over Bourbon Street" or they might not be. I don't know. But they have covered that song. And it's available for listening on Reverbnation. In fact, listen to their version right now if you like.

On their Reverbnation page they have uploaded three covers and one original. One of the covers has been embedded above for your listening pleasure. I will only be talking about their original. It's called Opulence. Trying to describe jazz-fusion is very hard, especially for a metal fan, and especially when it's instrumental, so I'd highly recommend (at least) one listen. And I'll try my best to write this. By the way, it turns out they've recorded all the songs in one take, so just make a note.

1.) Opulence:

"Well Opulence is originally by us, and sometimes we cover ourselves too."

Starts with just one electric guitar, which gradually becomes more persuasive. Joined very soon by other instruments. Sound is very open, very fresh. There's what you might call a verse after the intro section. Which moves into a fairly jazz influenced section at around 1:20. There might be a keyboard solo in there. In fact, their structure seems to involve refrains and solos. Song moves effortlessly between the two. Brilliant drumming by the way. It's otherwise hard to determine which instrument is responsible for which sound. There's great basswork in a couple of sections like from 2:25 onward. Although an instrumental can get a little bit monotonous and boring if stretched to 5 minutes. They have not managed to solve that issue here. It gets a little difficult to sustain attention beyond the three-three and a half minute mark.

Subsequent communication with the vocalist reveals that there's a heavy underlying carnatic influence.
"It is much like a Carnatic piece with a Pallavi, Charana, Pallavi, Charana, Anupallavi etc. style. Each of the three sections reflect three Ragas (Kalyani for Keyboard, Raag equivalent of a harmonic minor for bass , and a lydian for guitar)" - Fidel Dsouza, bass and vocals.

In addition to the Sting cover mentioned way earlier, they've done two more covers. These are Do It Again by Steely Dan and Chameleon by Herbie Hancock. Both of which I'm embedding down here. The Sting cover has vocals, and their Steely Dan cover has vocals. Chameleon, like Opulence, is instrumental. Chameleon, apparently, is their flagship jam track. So it should be worth a listen. Really jazzy, really chill music. Great for evenings with wine. Guy has a pretty good voice too.

Do It Again (Steely Dan Cover)

Chameleon (Herbie Hancock Cover): 

Okay I'll end this review here, and leave you with links about where to find them.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bourbonstreetbangalore

Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/bourbonstreetbangalore