Monojit Dutta (left) and Neil Mukherjee perform at Marrakesh. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The swinging, mellow music permeated the lounge bar Marrakesh on Friday night with Latin jazz rhythms played out on Monojit Dutta’s bongos and Neil Mukherjee’s acoustic guitar. It was an evening of jamming in a structured manner, with two versatile and eclectic musicians who have experimented with a host of styles to come up with an original sound quite their own.

The duo played interesting modern instrumental pieces based primarily on bossa nova standards, which they tweaked around by adding individual touches — ranging from Carnatic to flamenco to traditional samba.

Dutta — the bandleader of Orient Express — had stuck to his Latin jazz-inflected style from a time when it was fashionable to play only rock music in Calcutta. Percussionist, flautist, clarinet player and more, he has worked hard to create an audience for his kind of music. “It is as important to have a serious listener as it is to play serious music. The responsibility lies with both performer and audience to engage in a meaningful interaction with each other,” stresses Dutta.

Neil Mukherjee started his career with local rockers Krosswindz, before moving to Chennai, where he worked with A.R. Rahman and leading Tamil composer Harris Jayaraj, apart from dabbling in folk music with Oikyotaan. He then started his own band, Kashti. At the moment, Mukherjee is freelancing as a studio musician, training in Carnatic music and working on a Bengali album. “I’m back to the live music circuit after a while and would like to play some more as I feel that my style has changed with my exposure to different kinds of music. The point is to keep evolving as a musician,” says Mukherjee, who was playing his rather original brand of music on an eight-string guitar.