Chennai’s AlterNation Jazz Festival set to celebrate artists from the city on January 31

If you person been successful the cognize astir Chennai’s euphony country successful the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apt that you mightiness person noticed a emergence successful the fig of venues featuring jazz acts. While clubs and consulates person off-hand performances, 2 venues — Vinyl and Brew and Hyatt Regency — person supported musicians some from India and abroad, to guarantee that the metropolis gets its just stock of the groove.

AlterNation, a philharmonic concern and societal enterprise, founded by 4 friends-musicians-volunteers, has been an indispensable portion of this exercise. Since their enactment successful September 2024, they person enactment connected 11 shows, says Vivek Ayer, 1 of the members. On January 31, AlterNation volition big its archetypal jazz festival astatine Zol Gardens astatine Palomar successful ECR. The amusement prides itself connected platforming artistes from the metropolis playing archetypal music, including the set Jatayu and Many Things.

For astir 3 years now, Maarten Visser, a pioneer successful the Chennai jazz scene, has been mentoring and grooming the Tuesday Jazzers, a corporate of astir 30 musicians from the city, who person been trying to find their idiosyncratic voices. This ensemble volition unfastened the festival performing 3 sets of good loved, classical American jazz music. “Musicians from the Tuesday Jazzers person gone connected to signifier bands of their ain and volition soon beryllium performing successful festivals crossed the country,” Vivek adds.

One specified is the Gautam Menon Quartet. “I began jamming with the Tuesday Jazzers successful 2022 erstwhile I moved to Chennai but beingness got successful the way. In 2025, I took a accidental and went to the aforesaid venue lone to find that determination is simply a batch much radical present now. After gathering 3 different musicians and penning down archetypal music, the quartet emerged. We larn from each different and that is exciting. I americium kicked to execute astatine the festival this year. We person besides gotten enquiries to execute successful Bengaluru soon,” says Gautam Menon, an edupreneur and a jazz drummer.

An enactment to look guardant to is Many Things comprising Maarten Visser, Aravind Murali and Manukrishnan, who trust connected improvisation, combining jazz, rock, classical and funk. The trio usually instrumentality listeners down a travel of eclectic, mesmerising music.

“Until recently, astir shows astatine Vinyl and Brew person been listening sessions. This is due to the fact that we privation radical to absorption exclusively connected the enactment dissimilar successful venues wherever jazz is successful the background,” Vivek says.

He adds that the fashionable set Jatayu, a genre-blurring four-piece set from Chennai, has performed successful respective locations different than their location metropolis implicit the past fewer years. The festival volition beryllium a homecoming for the band, wherever they volition execute ragas with modern sonic design, blending Carnatic music, jazz and rock. “Playing astatine the AlterNation Jazz Festival feels important to america due to the fact that it’s happening astatine home, successful Chennai. It’s refreshing to spot a level similar this look successful the city, and we privation to enactment festivals that put successful jazz, archetypal euphony and section voices. We’re excited to contiguous songs from our caller EP and to execute with a horn conception successful Chennai for the archetypal time,” says Sahib Singh, guitarist and set person of Jatayu successful a property release.

Suman Sridhar, a vocalist and award-winning artiste from Mumbai is the lone invited enactment from different city. She volition beryllium playing with her set Black Mamba, fusing jazz, pop, Indian classical, opera, and spoken connection successful her performances.

Besides this, Vivek says that they are trying to incorporated jazz paintings, with unrecorded ocular creation composed connected the fly, by Chennai-based caller media creation duo, Television Dust.

“We privation radical to cognize that jazz is for everyone and not thing that is performed astatine clubs. Music from Chennai has galore similarities with this benignant of music. It is improvisational and based connected pulse. Several radical person been portion of the pre-show jam sessions astatine spots similar Brod Bakery and Kat and Kin connected ECR. Our past pre-show show is astatine Vinyl and Brew connected January 25 which is escaped and unfastened to all,” helium says.

The archetypal variation of the AlterNation Jazz Festival is connected January 31 astatine Zol Garden, The Palomar, ECR starting 3pm. Tickets for the lawsuit are priced betwixt ₹750 and ₹1,500 and are disposable connected Skillboxes.com