Asha Puthli, 79-Year-Old Jazz Artist, Wows Glastonbury Festival

Puthli’s vocals eventually appeared on two tracks of Ornette Coleman’s 1972 album, Science Fiction, earning her the DownBeat Critics Poll award for best female jazz musician alongside Ella Fitzgerald and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Simultaneously, she ventured into fashion and film, becoming a fixture in New York nightlife. “They’d ask me if I was royalty and I’d say: don’t be ridiculous. I’m not royalty, I’m divinity,” she recounted to GQ. Her avant-garde fashion style also made waves. “I’d wear pillowcases paired with thrift store stuff, mostly out of necessity.” 

The failure of a label  

CBS Records struggled to market Puthli as an Indian jazz artist. They suggested she change her name to Anne Powers to appeal to a white audience, but she refused. Frustrated, she accepted a record deal from CBS in England. However, without a UK work visa, her contract was suspended when the UK tightened immigration rules. She moved to Germany to work on her second album before returning to the US to give birth to her son.

Puthli’s 1976 album The Devil is Loose became her defining work but despite critical acclaim, CBS didn’t release it in the US. She relocated to Palm Beach, Florida, occasionally recording new music. In the 1990s, her music was sampled by hip-hop artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and G-Unit, though she was initially skeptical about these unauthorised uses of her work.

The comeback 

Her music’s resurgence, particularly among South Asian artists like Imaad Shah and Raveena Aurora, prompted her to consider a comeback. In 2017, she performed in Mumbai for the first time since 1972, backed by Shah’s band Madboy/Mink, to an enthusiastic young audience.

Since then, she’s got plenty of co-signs from other South Asian musicians, including raga-meets-synth producer Arushi Jain, experimental indie musician Nabihah Iqbal, and Illinois-based violinist and vocalist Chandra Gangavarapu. She plans to follow up this year’s world tour with an Indian tour, including a special homecoming gig in Mumbai featuring a three-hour set celebrating her decades-long caree