From Toronto, led by Sundar Viswanathan (alto and soprano sax, bansuri, flute), Avataar is deep in the jazz-fusion vein. Viswanathan—who has performed with such jazz luminaries as Wynton Marsalis, Dave Holland, Vijay Iyer and Rez Abassi—is also a composer, having studied Hindustani music and the classical Turkish makam system of melodic progression. He cites influences as diverse as Shakti and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Zakhir Hussain, Trilok Gurtu, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Scriabin, Alban Berg, Enya, Loreena McKennitt and so on.

Avataar fronts singer Felicity Williams, a student of Indian classical music who often doubles the melody with Viswanathan (as on “Annapoorna”; her presence also recalls, among other things, Flora Purim's on Chick Corea's Return to Forever, e.g., “Petal-The Space Between”), Michael Occhipinti (electric and acoustic guitar), Justin Gray (electric bass, mandolin, and taus, a bowed string instrument from North and Central India and the Punjab), Ravi Naimpally (tabla, percussion), and Giampaolo Scatozza (drums). The closer, “Petal-Ephemerata,” intersperses samples from Swami Vivekananda, Alan Watts, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Krishnamurti and other spiritual luminaries. This is a complex and layered work that bears repeated listening to apprehend its varied nuances.