Among all the brilliant acts that we had a conversation with at SulaFest 2018 is the 4 piece improvisational jazz fusion band, the Adil Manuel Collective.
Hey, introduce yourselves, tell us about the kind of music that you guys play.
We are the Adil Manuel Collective and we are basically an improvisational band. Jazz fusion, RnB, Neo-Soul, that’s the vibe. But it’s the hardest question to answer, “what kind of music you are into”, because there’s too much, you know. For this set we had a fun, jazz fusion, funk, drum and bass kinda set, those avenues.
Can you tell us about who your musical influences are?
Wow, we’ll need ten hours for that.
Of late..
Of late, I discovered Tia Fuller, she’s an incredible saxophonist. I discovered her through Esperanza’s band because we did one of her tunes, one of her versions of a Michael Jackson number called “I can’t help it.” A lot of drum and bass, Venetian Snares and stuff like that, a lot of electronic music. It’s just been a lot of stuff.
Last night we were listening to a lot of Chick Corea and Bollywood music.
As far as your gear goes, which piece of equipment in your setup do you think really stands out?
My hands, man. The thing about gear is, honestly, you can have all the equipment in the world but that’s what finally boils down to, as an instrumentalist. How you connect your mind and soul to your hands, these are my two rules. I could have any guitar and I’ll still sound like myself. And that’s the same thing with everybody, I think they’ll agree. Having said that, I love gear. But it’s all about how you connect to your instrument, this is gear, the hands.
How long have you guys been playing as a band?
This is like a fun new collective. Vireena come down from Vienna, joined us three days ago and we had only rehearsed on the 2nd and 3rd. We were supposed to be joined by our awesome bassist, Harshit but unfortunately his mother is having a surgery, so he couldn’t make it. This is the first time that we’ve the stage with this line-up.
When you guys do release music, how would go about it? Independent or would you tie up with a label?
That’s actually a tough question, it depends on what you want. For our kinda music, I think independent is the way, but that being said, right now there are a lot of labels that are promoting independent music as well. It actually really depends on what you want. We’ve been doing this independently for a while now and there are a lot of platforms as well. It is a learning process as well, dealing with record labels.
What would advice be to those people who are just starting out and trying to make a career in music?
Stick to guns and stand your ground, no compromise. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It is quite difficult right now but once you’ve figured out how to go about it, it’s a great place to be at.
