Soli Sorabjee: The Lawman Who Forever Fell In Love With Jazz

Senior advocate at 41, twice attorney general, and a committed defender of freedom of expression and the protection of human rights, Padma Vibhushan Soli Sorabjee, would also just jazz out every once in a while.

A huge patron of the musical genre and the artists thereof, Sorabjee paved the way for future generations of Jazz in our country. The story goes that Soli Sorabjee’s life-long passion for jazz began accidentally, while he was in college.

After quite a hilarious mix-up of record labels which resulted in his first tryst with Jazz, Sorabjee was an instant convert. As the long-standing President of Capital Jazz, the Jazz India Delhi Chapter, he ensured that the music performed in Jazz Utsav was in tune with the times.

The Yatra (and Jazz Utsav in its later avatar) became a staple of the Capital’s Cultural circuit. The man pioneered the new age of Jazz music and Jazz artists and paved the way for the next generation of musicians.

While his extraordinary brilliance, legal skills, court-craft and commitment to human rights make him a legend, he is also noted for his compassion, empathy, generosity, wit, curiosity and mischievousness.

Soli loved to live life carpe diem and as such Jazz was the perfect musical representation of himself. Growing up in Bombay in the 1930s-40s it was natural Soli would “swing” to the music of that era.

The passion extended to people who made the music, too: he was a patron to the jazzmen of his era. In addition to the western artists, Soli made sure to find and promote the best of the Indian talents as well.

Read more: Joe Pereira (Jazzy Joe)