INDIA, BOOK: Naresh Fernandes - Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age (Roli Books 2011)

In 1935, a violinist from Minnesota named Leon Abbey brought the first ?all negro? jazz band to Bombay, leaving a legacy that would last three decades. In a decade, swing would find its way to the streets of India as it influenced Hindi film music ? the very soundtrack of Indian life. The optimism of jazz became an important element in the tunes that echoed the hopes of newly independent India.
This book tells a story of India and especially of the city of Bombay  through the lives of a menagerie of geniuses, strivers and eccentrics, both Indian and American, who helped jazz find a home in the sweaty subcontinent. They include the burly African-American pianist Teddy Weatherford; the Goan trumpet player Frank Fernand, whose epiphanic encounter with Mahatma Gandhi drove him to try to give jazz an Indian voice; Chic Chocolate, who was known as the Louis Armstrong of India; Anthony Gonsalves, who lent his name to one of the most popular Bollywood tunes ever; and many more.
Taj Mahal Foxtrot, at its heart, is a history of Bombay in swing time.
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