The inspirations for Richard X Bennett’s lively work evolve from a wide range of unlikely sources, from contemporary visual art to ancient metaphysics influenced by years performing in India, where he recorded a series of critically acclaimed raga-jazz albums for Times Music, India’s largest record label.

Away From The Many is fifteen tracks that walk us through Bennett’s vision, one of which is a haunting version of Elton John’s Benny And The Jets. By playing something we all recognize in a similar style, Bennett is beckoning us to understand his method and his intent. That understanding is instant, and once you’ve heard the cover you want to start all over again. Yet added to the end of the album are two remixes; Richard connected with Aaron Dolton through the Ropeadope family and the two quickly found synergy. The remixes underscore Bennett’s vision of finding a way forward through exploration and common feeling.

Since moving to New York from his native Toronto in the 1990s, pianist and composer Richard X Bennett has thrived as a performer in a broad variety of stylistic contexts. Splitting his time between New York and Mumbai, he released a series of acclaimed albums on several Indian imprints, with his last two on Times Music, India's largest label. Until now, however, Bennett had yet to put an album out on an American label. On October 6, a dual release by Ropeadope Records will mark the pianist's first American recordings the trio date What Is Now and the Indo-jazz quintet session Experiments With Truth. Bennett displays his loose, percussive, and conversational instrumental style on the trio album. The raga-infused music on the quintet album is something else again, as stylistically remote from his trio opus as the Big Apple is from Bollywood.