by Richard Defendorf / The Oakland Tribune – July 15, 1998

Berkeley saxophonist George Brooks is eminently qualified to discuss the connection between jazz and North Indian classical music. Hi CD “Lasting Impressions,” released last year, combined both forms into a swinging, shimmering, exotic hybrid. That album, and the concert performances that celebrated its release, convinced Brooks’ happy listeners that America’s most famous indigenous music and India’s most lyrical classical music not only are compatible, they infuse each other with unusually rich textures and enormous energy.

Lucky for us, Brooks and his colleagues aren’t done with their East-West exploration. Joined by tabla master Zakir Hussain, sarangi player Sultan Khan, sarodist Aashish Khan, composer-pianist Jack Perla, bassist Dave Belove and drummer David Rokeach, Brooks has recorded another album in the same vein, “Night Spinner” (Moment! Records).

Featuring 10 new compositions, the album was co-produced by Hussain, who has forged other world-fusion paths with musicians such as John McLaughlin, Mickey Hart and Pharaoh Sanders. Aashish Khan was born to play the sarod: he is the son of longtime Bay Area sarodist and composer Ali Akbar Khan. And Sultan Khan is one of the most accomplished musicians to pick up a sarangi bow.

Originally from New York City, Brooks discovered Indian music while training at the New England Conservatory of Music. At age 23 he visited India and for a year studied Indian classical music. He befriended Pandit Pran Nath, the remarkable Indian singer who eventually moved to Berkeley. Brooks also dug into America’s indigenous music, studying the sax work of John Coltrane, playing with bluesmen such as Bobby Murray, Johnny Taylor, Earl King and Albert Collins, and touring with singer Etta James.

Brooks will celebrate the release of “Night Spinner” with performances at 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. He will be joined by Hussain, sitarist Krishna Bhatt, Perla, Belove, Rokeach, vocalist Molly Holm and vibes player Tommy Kesecker. Admission is $16. Call (510)238-9200.