Gino Banks revives Louiz Banks compositions in new Legacy project

A drummer steering a family catalog from the kit, not the archive, is the real story in Gino Banks’ Legacy project. He has been reworking Louiz Banks’ lesser-known compositions with younger players, and the live set recently reached the 250-seat Studio Theatre at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai.

That venue suited the music’s scale. NMACC positions the Studio Theatre as an intimate, flexible room with advanced acoustics and modern technology, and Legacy leaned into that environment with arrangements built for detail rather than decibels. Gino Banks fronted a fresh ensemble that included S. Akash on bansuri, Pratik Srivastava on sarod, Deivat Tapodhan on keyboards, Aditya Ahir on bass, Ganesh Murali Iyer on Carnatic percussion and konnakol, and vocalist Jyothishri Raghuram.

For drummers, the pull of the project is in how Gino Banks is acting as curator as much as player. The set included Raga of The Heart, Benaras, Leap of Faith and 11 Pieces of Silver, and the report noted that some of those tunes have not been heard live often. That makes the role of the drums especially central: Gino Banks is preserving the melodic core of Louiz Banks’ writing while opening space for improvisation, conversation and rhythmic detail.

The family and historical weight behind that move runs deep. Louiz Banks has long been described as the godfather of Indian jazz, and earlier reporting showed he was writing jazz compositions with Carnatic scales four decades ago. He has also been credited with spearheading India’s jazz movement for more than three decades, while working with figures such as R.D. Burman and Ravi Shankar. In 2024, he was still performing in his mid-80s, which makes Legacy feel less like a memorial than a living handoff.

Gino Banks’ own path explains why he can shape that handoff from the stool. His official biography says he started drums at 8 and was touring Australia and China with Louiz Banks’ SANGAM band by 9, already playing percussion in the family orbit. He later stepped into full drumming roles with Nexus and kept working across the jazz and fusion scene. The project is moving toward a Legacy album, with Louiz Banks on a couple of tracks and guest players added for variety, and a Kolkata concert clip on Gino Banks’ official YouTube channel suggests the material is already traveling beyond Mumbai. For a scene that values lineage, feel and risk in equal measure, Legacy is a drummer taking responsibility for an archive by making it swing again.