|
contents | world | |||||||||||||
| Sunny Jain Collective at Joe's Pub  Sunny Jain Collective will give Wednesday, April, 12th the CD release party at Joe's Pub, NYC in connection with the group's second CD, Avaaz (Sinj Records). Drummer/composer Sunny Jain is a leading voice for the new music of Indo Jazz. His group, Sunny Jain Collective (Sunny Jain (drums), Rez Abbasi (guitar/sitar guitar), Steve Welsh (tenor saxophone/effects), Carlo Derosa (bass), Samita Sinha (vocals) intertwines jazz with music from his South Asian heritage, and all with a twist of modern effects.The group's second CDis a truly innovative step in the new music of Indo Jazz. Avaaz features a stunning array of pan-Indian influences from Jain's bhangra-inspired original, "Sialkot, " to the 1951 Bollywood classic, "Awaara Hoon, " to the bhajan, "Meri Bhavana, " to Jain's raga based melodies on "Johnnie Black" and "Baraat." This special night will feature Rez Abbasi on guitar/sitar guitar, Steve Welsh on tenor saxophones/effects, Carlo Derosa on acoustic bass, vocalist Samita Sinha and Jain on drums. Avaaz maintains the spirit of the collective by weaving the multi-cultural threads of the East and West into a colorful musical tapestry, the common ground being the spirit of the drum. In 2002, Sunny Jain Collective released their debut CD, As Is (NCM East Records), which featured many of Jain's Indian flavored compositions & arrangements. SJC then headlined at the 26th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival in May 2003 and performed to a sold-out crowd at the world famous Blue Note jazz club in NYC in August 2003. A dream came true for Jain when his group made their debut tour to India in 2003. "I had always wanted to go back to India and play for all my relatives since I was 18. It was amazing to be there for the Jazz Yatra Festival and have 20 of my relatives applauding our band." Not only did his relatives applaud, but SJC was welcomed with enthusiastic crowds at every show, which in fact brought the group back in January 2005 for 7 major festival engagements, including a debut performance in Nepal. All the noise did not go unnoticed back home in New York City. Sunny Jain Collective's debut release was signed to ZoHo Music and re-released as Mango Festival in March 2004. Jain joined the ZoHo artist roster with such jazz luminaries as Dave Liebman, Vic Juris and Arturo O' Farrill. In June 2005, Jazz Hot magazine (France) did a spread on Jain in their drummer issue, which featured Lewis Nash, Horacio "El Negro' Hernandez, Eddie Locke, Winard Harper and Byron Landham. Sunny was noted as a rising star for his fusion of jazz and Indian music. Most recently, Sunny Jain Collective toured India for the 3rd time as part of the Seagram's sponsored Legends Live Concert Series in October 2005. The group was then also featured on MSNBC's In Style program, broadcast throughout India, Dubai, the UK and the States. Sunny Jain is one of only a handful of South Asians recognized in the international jazz community. He has performed with Kiran Aluwhalia, Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Norah Jones and Kenny Wollesen, among many others and performed for Broadway's Bombay Dreams. He has toured the States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Africa and India extensively and was designated a 2002 Jazz Ambassador of the United States of America by the Department of State and The Kennedy Center. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |