Both trumpeter Paolo Fresu and pianist Rita Marcotulli have been part of the Italian jazz scene since the mid-1980s. Though they have known each other for a long time, it was only a couple of years ago that they began performing together. What they also have in common is that they have played in India before, and have also played separately with Mumbai-born, Hamburg-based percussionist Trilok Gurtu back in Europe.

Fresu, Marcotulli and Gurtu will get together for the first time onstage as a trio in a unique concert presented by the NCPA and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai at the Tata Theatre this month. Each of them has written a few original compositions for the performance and shared them over WhatsApp so that they can familiarise themselves with the programme before the rehearsals. The idea is to blend both traditional and modern styles with jazz and music that is rooted in Mediterranean and Indian traditions.

The show comes just over a year after Gurtu, now 72, performed at the same venue with Israel’s Castle in Time Orchestra, conducted by Matan Daskal. “That event was very special for me, and it was great to play in my hometown after a long time. I don’t know whether everyone liked it, but the overall reaction spoke for itself. The coming show will obviously be a completely different experience,” he says.

Fresu had played with Gurtu for the first time in the early 1990s. He recalls, “I had invited him to my jazz festival in Sardinia, Italy. Later he invited me to perform in his 1997 album The Glimpse.” Adds Gurtu, “We adjusted well and formed a very special trio with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and played in various cities across the world.”

The two musicians have played with Marcotulli in the studio and are looking forward to the forthcoming show. The pianist too has been familiar with Gurtu’s work since the early 1990s. She says, “I was a huge fan of the jazz fusion band Weather Report, and I first saw Trilok play with the band’s keyboardist Joe Zawinul. That was when I first got exposed to Indian music, especially rhythms. Many years later, I got a chance to play with him once as a duo in northern Italy.”

Now 64, Marcotulli grew up in a musical environment, as her father was a sound engineer who worked with legendary film composers Nino Rota, whose scores for The Godfather and La Dolce Vita remain timeless, and Ennio Morricone, who worked as music director for classics like Cinema Paradiso and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. She recalls, “I remember Rota first came home when I was five or six. I had begun learning piano by then, and every time he came, he wanted to hear me. I would get very nervous, but he was very gentle. I met Ennio Morricone more often, and I was in the studio when they were recording pan flutes for the film Once Upon a Time in America. Once he hosted a dinner in my honour and made me play with a double bass player.”

Though Marcotulli’s early exposure was to classical music, she soon became interested in film soundtracks and popular songs. She says, “Jazz came later and the f irst pianist I discovered was Thelonious Monk. Others Amrita Lahiri and Pavitra Bhat followed. There was Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. As I started travelling, I got into other styles like Brazilian, African and Indian music. A Brazilian musician who lived in Rome heard me play and invited me to join his band. That widened my perspective.”

Among her collaborations, Marcotulli treasures her partnership with American saxophonist Dewey Redman. “I met Dewey for the first time in Paris, where I often played with bassist Michel Benita and drummer Aldo Romano. Michel wanted to form a quartet and invited Dewey, who liked my playing and invited me to play with his band. I collaborated with him for 15 years, touring with him regularly. He was the funniest, most profound, visionary and brilliant player I met, and I learnt a lot from him.”

For his part, 62-year-old trumpeter Fresu talks in a similar vein about his collaboration with pianist Carla Bley. He elaborates, “She told me she first heard me at an airport on her bandmate and saxophonist Andy Sheppard’s headphones. She liked the music so much that she located me through my agent Vic Albani. This was around 2005. She and Sheppard had released the album The Lost Chords with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Billy Drummond. She decided to add me, and we recorded the follow-up album The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu.”

Born in Berchidda on the Italian island of Sardinia, Fresu picked up the trumpet at the age of 11. He says, “I didn’t choose the trumpet. The trumpet chose me as there was one at home and my dream was to touch it and play it. Soon I wanted to become part of the local band and as luck would have it, I started playing for them as a young boy.” Though he was heavily inspired by the trumpet-playing of Miles Davis and Chet Baker, Fresu decided not to copy anyone but work at developing his own style. He also wanted to diversify from concerts and albums, and soon began composing for theatre, dance, radio, television and films. “I basically write music, and don’t differentiate between one medium and another,” he explains.

Last year, Fresu appeared on the song ‘Live and Let Live’ on rock star Peter Gabriel’s latest album i/o. “I had earlier asked for permission to use his unreleased song in my album Eros with Omar Sosa. He agreed. When we met in Sardinia last year, he asked me to record with him. It has been a great honour to work with such a respected artiste,” he says.

All three musicians are looking forward to playing together in Mumbai. Interestingly, Fresu performed at the Jazz Yatra when he was just starting out in 1984 and returned in 2012. Marcotulli has come before as part of an Italian jazz group, and later with a Pink Floyd tribute band comprising musicians from different European countries. Gurtu says this collaboration will give him a chance to do newer things. He points out, “My basic approach will be the same as what I do with other musicians. I use my Indian education and let the music play for itself. There won’t be too much planning or thinking or analysing.” Marcotulli sums it up succinctly. “The beauty of this music is that we don’t know what exactly will happen next. As Picasso said, ‘If you know what exactly you’re going to do, what’s the point of doing it?’”