Joel Harrison: Still Point: Turning World & Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas

Richard Gehr on January 27, 2020
Joel Harrison: Still Point: Turning World & Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas

Long-form excursions in both jazz and rock arguably took their durational cues from Indian classical music. And the East-West fusion thing works splendidly on both guitarist-composer Joel Harrison’s Still Point: Turning World (Whirlwind) and the Go: Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas (Meta). Still Point, a flowing eight-part suite balancing composition and improvisation, is the more formally ambitious and features top-shelf players like Anupam Shobhakar (sarod), Dan Weiss (drums, tabla) and members of the contemporary percussion quartet Talujon. The double disk Ragmala , meanwhile, flourishes in the realm of groove. The 38-piece ensemble, conducted by composer Adam Rudolph, covers vast galaxies of both body and spirit music over about two hours. You could get lost in its spaces.