blueFROG's take on HFT
Drawing inspiration from everywhere, HFT’s music speaks of the here and now. Music as it is, sounding the best it can. That’s why no two performances are ever the same.
About HFT
HFT play a style of music that could easily be called world jazz, jazz that is urbane and savvy, a well-travelled, warm music that is equally at ease being in the sun as resting in the shade. AJ—mellifluous melody line maker on the guitar and sometime scatman in a hat, Lew—funky bass line plucker and creator of psychedelia in song, and Suchet—seated beatkeeper on drums from as far afield as Peru and Ghana, make up this trio.
Influences for the band range from Miles Davis to Baaba Maal. Listening to them live, you’d hear jazz through the guitar melodies, basslines & cymbal work, fusion through the raga-esque phrasing & scat, world music in the Afro-latin drum grooves and syncopation… Drawing inspiration from everywhere, HFT’s music speaks of the here and now. Music as it is, sounding the best it can. That’s why no two performances are ever the same.
HFT play a style of music that could easily be called world jazz, jazz that is urbane and savvy, a well-travelled, warm music that is equally at ease being in the sun as resting in the shade. AJ—mellifluous melody line maker on the guitar and sometime scatman in a hat, Lew—funky bass line plucker and creator of psychedelia in song, and Suchet—seated beatkeeper on drums from as far afield as Peru and Ghana, make up this trio.
Influences for the band range from Miles Davis to Baaba Maal. Listening to them live, you’d hear jazz through the guitar melodies, basslines & cymbal work, fusion through the raga-esque phrasing & scat, world music in the Afro-latin drum grooves and syncopation… Drawing inspiration from everywhere, HFT’s music speaks of the here and now. Music as it is, sounding the best it can. That’s why no two performances are ever the same.
ARJUN SEN has been noted for his time with the legendary Great Society and Don’t Lose the One. He scored the music for films Khaamosh Paani and Honey Hunters of the Blue Mountains, which won a Green Oscar. His music was also the soundtrack for Tejas, a twelve-week exhibition of Indian Art (from the 3rd century BC to the 11th century AD) at the prestigious BOZAR in Brussels, Belgium.
AJ is an innovator both in technique and texture; his guitar sound and finger/thumb plucking technique are unique ways of expressing his melodic journeys.
LEW HILT has been bassist of High & Shiva, pioneering rockers from Kolkata in the 70s and 80s. He’s also played with all of India’s leading jazz luminaries, including Karlton Kito, Louiz Banks and Braz Gonsalves. Thus he’s equally adept at jazz, blues and rock. His ability to drive the music he’s playing as well as go with what’s happening—to play the right note where it is needed—has won him a legion of admirers, most of them professional bassists themselves.
SUCHET MALHOTRA is a multi-percussionist, playing cajon, bongos, the djembe, darbouka, framedrums, didgeridoo and his root drum, the tabla. His multi-percussion setups have supported orchestras and ensembles (Ethno Sweden, Chamber Soloists Lucerne, the HUM Ensemble) and his solo work Stories through Sound has taken percussion into amphitheatres, dance clubs and concert stages. With HFT, Suchet plays the flamenco cajon, cymbals, wooden bongos, djembe and world percussion, creating a synthesis of world music and jazz in one unique set-up.