Madhav Chari thrilled people of all age groups

Born on February 25, 1967, Chari was a Tamil Brahmin from Chennai. He spent his early days in Calcutta (now Kolkata). In his impressive career Chari performed and interacted with legends like drummer Max Roach, pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist - composer Henry Threadgill, and more recently with multiple Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis. His debut CD, released in 2001, was called ‘From the Other Side’. It was in 2010 when Chari approached N. Naveen Kumar, a bass guitarist and offered him to be a part of his band. Naveen who was then shuffling between shows in Chennai and Dubai happily obliged the offer.

Chari formed a band called Madhav Chari trio – with Chari at the piano, Jeoraj George at the drums and Naveen as the bass guitarist. Piano was everything for Chari. A purist that he was, Chari was against commercialisation of music. The Indian music industry did not appeal to him much. “Let not commercialisation influence you was what Chari told me,” recalls Naveen who is also associated with the music industry.

Naveen who shared a great relationship with Chari apart from music, said, “All his life he worked for one thing and that was creating awareness and interest among people for jazz.” He did only one concert in a year. He held at least 55-60 workshops for free across the country. At times, he did as little as one show a year.

Remuneration was not the motivation behind his musical pursuit. His concerts enthralled people of all age groups. He organised three shows in Chennai and one in Mumbai. He had plans of performing in Kolkata too. “He was a genius. It was an honour working with him. Chari’s loss is irreplaceable,” says Naveen.

With Chari’s demise, the musical fraternity will be poorer.