The London-based, southwestern India-raised kit drummer and tabla player continues his roll, magicking a spacious, spiritual beauty in a session that bottles both the musical empathy and on-the-fly creativity of his UPAJ Collective. Korwar's background in jazz and Indian classical music anchors what is very much an ensemble project, dedicated in part to consolidating the links between the genres. Notable moments include Osborn's baritone sax, slow-rumbling and echoing over Korwar's percussive base on ‘So Said Said’, a track sent grooving by guitars, keys, vioin and kit drums (Korwar swaps instruments on every track). Single ‘Elephant Hangover’ finds Carnatic violinist Sripadmanathan changing gears and picking up lines; State of Bengal's drum-and-bass classic ‘IC 408’ is lovingly, acoustically recast; inspiration is found in the postcolonial theories of academic giants Edward Said and Ashis Nandy. Visceral, cerebral, earthy and uplifting, this is the next instalment in an already remarkable body of work.

Jazzwise talks to Sarathy Korwar about his new album

Tell me why you've called your collective UPAJ and how that sentiment informs this project?

Upaj means ‘to improvise’ in Hindi and the Indian classical vernacular. Improvisation is central to the way the collective makes music as it is made up of musicians from jazz and Indian classical backgrounds, both styles that rely heavily on improvisation. Also we hardly ever rehearse (on purpose mostly) as I feel like it helps us listen to each other better when we get down to playing/performing.

All your work, including your studio albums Day To Day and More Arriving, seems in part to be about rebalancing spiritual jazz with authentic Indian classical music …

My mission is just to represent myself well [but] I believe ‘spiritual jazz’, just like almost every other genre of music has in the past suffered from exoticising other musical traditions.

What were your intentions for Night Dreamer: Direct–to-Disc Sessions?

This album has a combination of Indian classical musicians, jazz musicians and people who have spent time studying both those traditions. It furthers the narrative about what Indo-jazz music could sound like, and what a musical conversation between musicians who have taken the time to understand one another and each others' musical upbringing can sound like.

You kicked off the recording with a group breathing session. How effective is this as a device?

Very effective. We do group breathing sessions before every performance. And we approached this recording much like a performance as we were recording direct-to-disk. Doing something as intimate yet collective as group breathing helps focus everyone right before we play, creating a space where we all felt safe enough to take risks. I wanted the majority of the session to be spontaneous and improvised, with no correct way or thing to play.

Tell me more about the individual musicians in UPAJ and how you feel they complement your vision?

Al [McSween] and Giuliano [Modarelli] are strongly rooted in jazz and Indian classical music (after studying for seven/eight years in India). Tamar [Osborn] is constantly curious, with a vocabulary influenced by her own unique influences. Achuthan [Sripadmanathan] is a Carnatic violinist with an exceptional ear and an open mind. I wanted to hear us having a musical conversation, because I always love what each musician has to say!

Two weighty tomes (Edward Said's Orientalism and Ashis Nandy's Intimate Enemy) have spawned track titles (‘Intimate Enemy’ and ‘So Said Said?’). Did the musicians know what these works were about, and how important was it that the opinions expressed in the books informed the improvisation?

Orientalism is a landmark book that explains how orientalist thought pervades the West's culture and mode of thinking about the East. Intimate Enemy also influenced me deeply, regarding the ways we internalise colonial attitudes of ‘othering’ and how to become more aware of these biases. I spoke to the band about the books and wanted to highlight them as tracks, in a way to show my respect, and for people to Google them and check them out!