[78-L] Blue Rhythm Records: Help Anyone!

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

After help and information on Blue Rhythm from Han and Julian, I 
ventured onto the Internet to see what more I could find about “Blue 
Rhythm.” From a blog devoted to Blue Rhythm, I copied the following.

“In the 1950′s ,several young jazz fiends in Bombay started the first 
club and only jazz “magazine” in India. The magazine was called Blue 
Rhythmm.. From what I hear, it was a mimeographed broadsheet that 
included record reviews, observations on the genre, and even reviews of 
local musicians. It would be great to see a copy of this on this site !

Yusuf Curmally, Coover Guzder, Niranjan Jhaveri, Soli Sorabjee, 
,Jahangir Dalal, Praful Mehta, Farrokh Mehta, were the founders of this 
passion fuelled mission. Here is what Farrokh has to say about the 
club:

“……is how the jazz club idea took root in the late 40′s and 50′s in 
Bombay. There were Sunday afternoon jam sessions in a building 
(warehouse?) on what is now P D’mello Road. Rusi Captain (fabulous and 
ahead of his time) on the piano, Rusi Sethna on the clarinet, Dhun 
Nasikwala (drums). The “visitors” included Noman Mobsby (divine tenor 
sax) and even Rudy Cotton on a couple of occasions. The audience? A 
handful of jazz junkies.
Beyond this, there was life with Norman Mobsby with Dizzy Sal (piano) 
at the Ambassador Hotel, still standing close to the sea. We were broke 
enough to sit with one coffee for a full hour from6.30 to 7.30 before 
the moneyed dinner-clients came and we were then politely booted out. 
The coffee was passable and, for us then, expensive; the jazz ― mostly 
in response to our passionate cries ― was fabulous. And at Volga 
Restauarant (long converted into shops!) at Fountain, Sunday mornings 
were jam session time with Mickey Correa (clarinet), Hal Green (tenor 
sax) as “guests”.

“The beauty of it was that we were all broke and could afford one or 
maybe two coffees. But we were a helluva audience, enthusing the 
musicians who otherwise were pestered with “dance requests” by the hoi 
polloi.
Aahh ! them were the days!!!!!!!”

(Second item)
Dear Jazz Lovers:

“While we are putting together names of those who have contributed to 
the story of jazz in India, let us not forget an important name,Yusuf 
Curmally, whose family owns Rhythm House, the oldest and best business 
establishment that sells music in Bombay. His younger brother still 
runs it.

“He was one of the founders, including Coover Guzder, Niranjan Jhaveri, 
Soli Sorabjee, Jehangir Dalal, Praful Mehta, of the group that was at 
the heart of jazz in Mumbai. Blue Rhythm, also published a great 
magazine by that name, whose attractive logo of a jazz guitarist was 
designed by a talented Parsi artist, Mehli Gobhai (he has returned to 
India and now lives in Mumbai), whose mastery of line was as good as 
that of the great David Stone Martin, who graced so many jazz covers, 
particularly at Verve. Yusuf made possible the sale of jazz records in 
difficult times and

“...He was the quiet but important “detail” man in the Blue Rhythm 
group, which issued some 78 records, including one of a UK based jazz 
group led by a vibraphonist (Victor Feldman) who later went on to the 
USA to make a name for himself, whom they had arranged to come to 
Bombay for concerts at the Taj Mahal Hotel.

“Yusuf encouraged us next generation jazz fans to indulge in our love 
of this strange and devilishly attractive music with a beat, by making 
it available in his shop.... Talking of Coover Guzder, my modern jazz 
guru, before he died, had put together one of the greatest collections 
of Charlie Parker recordings in the world. Because of the generosity of 
his wife, Malini, who I believe resides in Bangalore, this collection 
is now housed in the Al Cohn Jazz Museum near Philadelphia. There are 
so many unsung heroes in this continuing story!”

Promodh Malhotra

Note: The late Coover Gazdar (died 1998) was a member of the IAJRC and 
compiler of “Easy Swing,” a discography of Wardell Gray ( May 1997). He 
also wrote and compiled “First Bass: The Oscar Pettiford Discography”  
(1991). Both were self-published in Bangalore, India. IAJRC offers a CD 
of rare recordings and concert dates by Pettiford issued on CD1010 (see 
IAJRC website for details).