Asha Puthli | |
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Background information | |
Born | Bombay, British Raj (now Mumbai, India) | February 4, 1945
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 1970–present |
Labels | |
Website | theashaputhli |
Asha Puthli (born February 4, 1945) is an Indian-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress, born and raised in Mumbai. She has recorded solo albums for EMI, CBS/Sony, and RCA. [1] Her recordings cover blues, pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, and techno and have been produced by Del Newman and Teo Macero. [2]
Puthli was born into a Hindu family. She is a niece of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. [3] Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a homemaker. [4] Like many upper-middle-class Hindu children at the time, she attended English-speaking Catholic schools. [5]
Puthli began training at an early age in Indian classical music and opera. She listened to jazz and pop music on the radio, which led to her interest in fusion. [6] At thirteen, she won a contest in which she sang "Malagueña". The victory encouraged her to begin improvising with a jazz band at local tea dances. Ved Mehta described her singing in his book Portrait of India. [7] She went to a university in Mumbai. [8]
After receiving her degree, Puthli worked as a British Airways flight attendant. For her training, she spent two months in London, where she later recalled she "would get to hear real jazz". While vacationing in America, she auditioned for a dance scholarship from Martha Graham, which she received. She resigned from British Airways and relocated to New York. John H. Hammond at Columbia had read Ved Mehta's portrait of her in Jazz in Bombay. [6] After hearing a rough demo, he signed her to CBS Records. She sang lead vocals on the Peter Ivers Blues Band's cover version of "Ain’t That Peculiar", which was reviewed favorably in Cashbox , Rolling Stone , and Billboard . The single, released in 1971, entered the Billboard charts. Take It Out On Me, the band's album featuring Puthli, was finally released in 2009. [9] [5]
Hammond sent her to audition for avant-garde jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who was looking for a singer for his album Science Fiction (1971). [10] For the album, Puthli sang on two songs, "What Reason Could I Give" and "All My Life". [6] For her work on Science Fiction, she shared the DownBeat Critics' Poll award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist. [1]
Puthli's popularity grew not in the U.S. but in Europe [11] where she signed a record deal with CBS. Her solo albums reflected her interest in pop, rock, soul, funk and disco. She gravitated toward the glam world of Elton John and T. Rex. Her self-titled debut was produced by Del Newman, and it included cover versions of songs by JJ Cale and Bill Withers. She hired Pierre LaRoche (makeup designer for David Bowie and Freddie Mercury) and photographer Mick Rock to shoot the cover. [12] The album included a disco version of "I Am a Song" by Neil Sedaka. [13]
Her first film was shot with Indian director Mani Kaul in 1968. During the 1970s, Puthli starred in lead roles in Merchant Ivory's Savages , which was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, and Bruno Corbucci's The Gang That Sold America (Italian title: Squadra Antigangsters). [12] She also appeared in a Louis Malle [14] cinéma vérité film as “Nadja” based on André Breton’s novel of the same name, and German documentary “Reden meine Droge – Singen mein Sex ...“ for Norddeutscher Rundfunk on her life. Her sense of fashion brought her visibility. A headliner at Studio 54, she was dressed by designers Michaele Vollbracht and Manolo Blahnik and photographed by Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol and Francesco Scavullo, appearing in the centerfold of the last's book of photographs 1948-1964.
In the twenty-first century, she sang on Asana Vol. 3 by Bill Laswell and Hey Diwani, Hey Diwani by Dum Dum Project. In 2005, she returned to the UK charts with "Looking Glass" from the album Fear of Magnetism by Stratus.
Her song "Space Talk" from the 1970s, a popular tune with David Mancuso's The Loft crowd, has been sampled by P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., Dilated Peoples, Governor featuring 50 Cent, and Redman; and her cover of George Harrison's "I Dig Love" was sampled in 2005 for the chart-topping track "Reload It" by UK MOBO Award-winner Kano. She has co-writer credits with Jay-Z, P. Diddy, The Neptunes, Jermaine Dupri, SWV, and The Notorious B.I.G. on the track "The World is Filled" from the multi-platinum album Life After Death . [12]
In August 2006, she headlined Central Park Summerstage in New York City on an eclectic bill with DJ Spooky, Talvin Singh, Outernational, and Prefuse 73, and special guests Dewey Redman and Dres (rapper) of the hip-hop group Black Sheep. [15]
Music critic Ann Powers in The New York Times called Puthli a "fusion pioneer". [16] Music critic Robert Palmer called her singing "extraordinary". [17] Her third solo album, The Devil is Loose, was called an instant classic by The New York Times. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called it " a masterpiece of snakey, spaced-out soul and pre-mainstream disco." [18]
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
Donald Eugene Cherry was an American jazz trumpeter. Beginning in the late 1950s, he had a long tenure performing in the bands of saxophonist Ornette Coleman, including on the pioneering free jazz albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (1960). Cherry also collaborated separately with musicians such as John Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Sun Ra, Ed Blackwell, the New York Contemporary Five, and Albert Ayler.
Asha Bhosle is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the greatest and most influential singers in Hindi cinema. In her career spanning over eight decades she has recorded songs for films and albums in various Indian languages and received several accolades including two National Film Awards, four BFJA Awards, eighteen Maharashtra State Film Awards, nine Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a record seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer, in addition to two Grammy nominations. In 2000, she was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. In 2008, she was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour of the country. The Guinness Book of World Records acknowledged Bhosle in 2011 as the most recorded artist in music history.
Material was an American band formed in 1979 and operating until 1999, led by producer and bassist Bill Laswell.
Talvin Singh OBE is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music with drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica subgenre called Asian Underground, and more recently as Indian and/or Asian electronica.
The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar are a collective of Jbala Sufi trance musicians, serving as a modern representation of a centuries-old music tradition. The collective includes musicians from the village of Jajouka, in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco. Most members are the sons of previous members, and adopt the surname Attar.
Usha Uthup Iyer is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer during the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Skies of America is the 17th album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released on Columbia Records in 1972. It consists of one long composition by Coleman taking up both sides of the album, played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by David Measham. Coleman himself only plays on a few segments, and there is no other jazz instrumentation.
Universal Consciousness is the fifth solo album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded from April to June, 1971, in New York City and at the Coltrane home studios in Dix Hills, New York, and was released later that year by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane appears on harp and organ, and is joined by bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummers Jack DeJohnette, Rashied Ali, and Clifford Jarvis, and, on three tracks, a quartet of violins playing parts arranged by Ornette Coleman. It was the first in a series of three albums on which Coltrane appeared with an ensemble of strings.
Tomorrow Is the Question!, subtitled The New Music of Ornette Coleman!, is the second album by American jazz musician Ornette Coleman, originally released in 1959 by Contemporary Records. It was Coleman's last album for the label before he began a highly successful multi-album series for Atlantic Records in 1959.
New York Is Now! is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman released on the Blue Note label in 1968.
Love Call is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman recorded in 1968 and released on the Blue Note label.
The Art of the Improvisers is an album credited to jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released by Atlantic Records in 1970. The album was assembled without Coleman's input, comprising outtakes from recording sessions of 1959 to 1961 for The Shape of Jazz to Come, Change of the Century, This Is Our Music, Ornette!, and Ornette on Tenor. Recording sessions in 1959 took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California; those in 1960 and 1961 at Atlantic Studios in New York City.
To Whom Who Keeps a Record is an album credited to jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, originally released by the Japanese subsidiary Warner Pioneer of Warner Bros. Records in 1975. The album, which was assembled by Atlantic producer İlhan Mimaroğlu without Coleman's input, comprises outtakes from Atlantic Records recording sessions of 1959 and 1960 for Change of the Century and This Is Our Music. Sessions for "Music Always" took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California with Billy Higgins on drums; all others took place at Atlantic Studios in New York City with drummer Ed Blackwell.
Science Fiction is an album by the American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded in September and October of 1971 and released on Columbia Records in February 1972.
Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission is a collaborative album by Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble, released on September 18, 2001, by Axiom and Palm Pictures.
Filmtracks 2000 is the thirteenth album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on September 25, 2001 by Tzadik Records. Despite the title's suggestion, the album is not a collection of Laswell's film scores. Instead it is an assemblage of new compositions which contain the hallmarks of soundtrack music, drawing influences from the music of India, Asia and the Middle East.
Invisible Design II is the sixteenth solo album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on March 24, 2009 by Tzadik Records.
Means of Deliverance is the seventeenth solo album by the American composer Bill Laswell, released on October 16, 2012, by Innerhythmic.
The Complete Science Fiction Sessions is a two-CD compilation album by Ornette Coleman. Released by Columbia Records in 2000, it brings together tracks recorded during September and October 1971 and September 1972 sessions at Columbia Studios in New York City. The album includes all of the music that was originally issued on Science Fiction and Broken Shadows, along with previously unreleased material. On the album, Coleman is joined by a core group of long-time associates consisting of trumpeters Don Cherry and Bobby Bradford, saxophonist Dewey Redman, double bassist Charlie Haden, and drummers Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. Guest artists include guitarist Jim Hall, pianist Cedar Walton, trumpeters Carmine Fornarotto and Gerard Schwarz, and vocalists David Henderson, Asha Puthli, and Webster Armstrong.