Uttal Delivers a Fine Indian, Jazz Mix

World music artist Jai Uttal’s “Night on the Ganges” at the House of Blues on Wednesday was billed as a multimedia event. The club, said the advance publicity, would be “transformed into a bizarre astral Indian temple.”

That’s not quite the way it worked out, however. Although a dancer and a yoga practitioner appeared briefly during Uttal’s set, and an overhead projection screen (as well as the in-house monitors) ran blurry images of Indian scenes, the ambience was pretty much just another high-decibel night at the House of Blues.

What did make the evening different was Uttal’s compelling performance. Trained in Indian classical music, the New York native has, in the last few years, wrapped his singing and his sarod playing in contemporary textures. His ensemble, which he calls the Pagan Love Orchestra, is a contemporary, Western-style band that Uttal uses to both contrast and underscore his intricate singing. The result was a kind of Indian/jazz/pop hybrid, with unusual textures and plenty of improvising space for Uttal and his players.

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Low-key and laid-back, Uttal mostly allowed his music to speak for itself. His sarod playing, often integrated into the arrangements, frequently in unison with guitar, provided a colorful timbral quality to the music. His voice, a rich baritone with a dark, grainy texture, roved imaginatively through Indian scales, a bit reminiscent at times of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but more often distinctly original.

Uttal was also well-served by his accompanists, especially by the powerful drumming--and occasional tenor saxophone playing--of Peter Apfelbaum. And in an evening that promised “striking visual imagery,” the most appealing sight was the sequence of flowing yoga asanas performed by a talented but uncredited young woman.