Personnel includes: Jai Uttal (vocals, various instruments); Peter Apfelbaum (saxophone, melodica); Jeff Cressman (cornet, trombone); Keith McArthur (keyboard, bass); Gabby (percussion); Sandy Cressman (background vocals). MONDO RAMA was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album. Hindu devotional music has traveled a long way since the late '60s, when young American converts often tried to be more authentically Indian than the source material they drew upon. Like Krishna Das, Jai Uttal comfortably straddles two worlds, as content to play elaborately arranged rock songs as simple Indian folk or religious tunes. On his sparkling 2002 release, the playfully-titled MONDO RAMA, Uttal mixes it up. "Narayana" opens the album with an impassioned plea to God. On "Shri Krishna," Uttal layers jazz horns over turntable screeches before segueing into a Beatles cover, "Tomorrow Never Knows." One of the standout tracks from the album is the entirely un-Hindu "Shalom," suggesting that Uttal's spiritual...