A Pakistani philanthropist is working hard to bring world-class jazz back to his native country. Izzat Majeed says he grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington. A performance by Dave Brubeck in Lahore’s Nido Hotel in 1958 changed his life.
The millionaire-investor-turned-philanthropist and music mogul’s Sachal Studios Orchestra of Lahore will release its second jazz album later this year. The first, “Sachal Jazz: Interpretations of Jazz Standards and Bossa Nova,” went on sale in 2011 and featured a version of “Take Five” that Brubeck, who died last year, was a fan of. The tribute to his quartet was played on both Western stringed instruments and traditional Eastern instruments, like the sitar.
The orchestra’s second album, “Jazz and All That,” has a different feel. Majeed is 63, technically retired, and splits time between London and Lahore.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
