By Denise Sullivan | Published November 2019
On Music In Our Dreams, the collective Dream Shanti takes listeners on an expansive journey rooted in tradition. The project—helmed by saxophonist/composer Jeff Coffin, tabla player Subrata Bhattacharya and sitar player Indrajit Banerjee—fluidly pushes forward, combining American and subcontinental modes.
“Joy” joins tabla and sitar with Western shadings, particularly Chris Walters’ piano and Coffin’s saxophone. “Live In 5” lets Banerjee shine on his instrument, while keeping a solid, percussive groove. “Miles Meets The Mahatma” conjures an image with its title, as well as with its sound, evoking Miles Davis and the East/West fusion of Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, perhaps in homage to In A Silent Way. And while “Take It To The Bridge” is an atypical funk workout, the album otherwise reads like a thematic piece of transworld musical exchange: Music In Our Dreams demonstrates that combining cultures and styles has the dreamlike possibility of not only penetrating borders and boundaries, but also might lead to new futures in sound.
Music In Our Dreams: Joy; Music In Our Dreams; Live In 5; Miles Meets The Mahatma; Sandhya Deep; Take It To The Bridge; Dancing With The Moon. (50:18)
Personnel: Jeff Coffin, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass flute, alto flute, C flute, clarinet, bass clarinet; Subrata Bhattacharya,tabla; Indrajit Banerjee, sitar, zitar; Carter Beauford, drums; Stefan Lessard, bass; Roy “Futureman” Wooten, Jordan Perlson, percussion; Chris Walters, keyboards; Ryoko Suzuki, harmonium.
