Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe New Orleans has been a magnet for young artists of all persuasions for generations. Great writers, visual and culinary artists, and, most significantly, musicians thrive in this sub-tropical paradise at the mouth of America's Nile, the Mississippi river. Advertisement Ravi is one of the latest in a long line of talented young musicians to find his muse in the Crescent City. He was already an accomplished session musician and sideman working out of the New York metropolitan area with a high-profile national tour as part of Hanson under his belt and a Simon & Schuster-published book about those experiences, "Dancin' With Hanson," when he heard the siren call that has beckoned so many before him. "I was in New Orleans for the LMNOP conference and was walking down the street past Tipitina's in the French Quarter and I heard Eddie Bo playing solo piano," said Ravi. "I didn't even know who Eddie Bo was, but his music was so filled with passion and beauty that I was hooked. He was completely himself in this rich musical environment. It reminded me of why I became a musician in the first place. I began to come down regularly and last year I decided to move here." Advertisement You don't find many musicians, especially young ones with a bright future ahead of them, who have made it in the Big Apple and decide to opt for the Big Easy. It's a testament to Ravi's commitment to his art that he would trade in a successful New York operation for the laid-back environs of a city that prizes its arts far more than its business acumen. "The pace is almost like a Third World country here in music," Ravi notes, "yet you're still in the United States. New York is a great place to get business done, but I find the atmosphere down here really conducive to writing and working on my music." Ravi, who has a home studio where he prepares demos that he engineers himself, has completed six new compositions since moving to New Orleans and says he can feel the creative vibrations of the city working their way into his music. He has assembled an all-star band to play his material led by keyboardist Joe Krown, a veteran sideman perhaps best known for his work with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown since 1992; Cornell Williams, the bassist with the popular New Orleans group Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen; and drummer Mike Barras, the power behind one of New Orleans' best rock bands, Mulebone. Advertisement The local players add a heavy dose of funk to Ravi's hook-oriented pop sound. They get a chance to stretch out live, but Ravi is careful to avoid the jam-sessions cult that has been passed down through the New Orleans tradition. "My songs have intricate arrangements that require rehearsing before they are played," he insists, "so there is not so much jamming in my sets. There are places in the songs for solo improvisation, but I don't want to give my audience the wrong idea about what it is that I do." Nevertheless, you can hear the music gain breathing space from gig to gig as Ravi's band plays it. At the beginning of his second set at the Maple Leaf earlier this year, Ravi's ethereal solo reading of Steve Winwood's plaintive "Can't Find My Way Home" drew the mesmerized audience members close to the stage even before it signaled the other members of his well-balanced quartet. By the time he played Le Bon Temp later in the year, his arrangements had opened up considerably, and he was confidently pulling out tunes he'd played back in high school during the course of three sets at a popular roadhouse dance hall. Advertisement Ravi went on to play several originals, including a solid song dedicated to New Orleans homeless children, "Sunflower in the Shade," the Van Morrison-inspired "New Year's Day," the clever "Shadow?" and the potential jam band anthem "It's Up To You." Ravi also showcased his imaginative flair for great arrangements on a terrific restructuring of the John Lennon classic "Imagine" and novel takes on "Don't Let Me Down" and "Little Wing." Ravi, whose surname is Hutheesing, is of Indian and German descent, the grand nephew of Jawaharlal Nehru. His fame has spread to India, where he plans to play with his New Orleans band, perhaps later this year. "I am interested to see how the people of India will react," Ravi said of what is likely to be treated as a major cultural event.
