Sunny Jain Collective
Taboo
Asphalt Orchestra
Red Baraat
Photo by Ferny Chung, Retouching by Louis F. Cuffari
Since its inception in 2002, Sunny Jain Collective has received international acclaim for their organic blend of jazz and pan-Indian music. Drummer/composer Sunny Jain leads an emerging movement of South Asian-American jazz musicians who bring together America’s greatest original art form and the ancient sounds of their cultural heritage. Touted as one of the premier groups establishing the genre of Indo Jazz, the group demonstrates the shared improvisational character of these traditions to unparalleled effect, with shifting moods and vast rhythmic aplomb. With 3 CD's releases, the group consists of Sunny Jain (drumset), Rez Abbasi (guitar/sitar-guitar), Steve Welsh (saxophones/effects), Gary Wang (bass), Samita Sinha (guest vocals)/
Press
JAZZTIMES :: by Bill Milkowski
And powering it all with shifting tempos, a vast array of percussive colors and rhythmic aplomb is bandleader Jain, bringing worlds together in seamless fashion...a fresh concept with brilliant execution. > Read article
NEW YORK PRESS :: by Saby Reyes-Kulkarni
Jain intrepidly leads his band into a lush, undiscovered sonic territory that glistens with the exoticism of newness. > Read article
Asphalt Orchestra is a radical new street band that brings ambitious processional music to the mobile masses. Created by the founders of the “relentlessly inventive” new music presenter Bang on a Can (Justin Davidson, NY Magazine), Asphalt Orchestra unleashes innovative music from concert halls, rock clubs and jazz basements and takes it to the streets.
With movement direction from internationally acclaimed choreographers Susan Marshall and Mark DeChiazza and costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy, the 12-member band brings together some of the most exciting rock, jazz and classical players in New York City: Jessica Schmitz (piccolo), Alex Hamlin, Peter Hess and Ken Thomson (saxophones), Shane Endsley and Stephanie Richards (trumpets), Jen Baker and Alan Ferber (trombones), Kenny Bentley (sousaphone), Sunny Jain, Nick Jenkins and Yuri Yamashita (percussion), who The New York Times have called “12 top-notch brass and percussion players.”
PROJECTS
In just three short years, the pioneering Brooklyn dhol 'n' brass party juggernaut RED BARAAT have made a name for themselves as one of the best live bands playing anywhere in the world. Led by dhol drummer Sunny Jain, the nine piece (comprised of dhol ((double-sided barrel shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder)) drumset, percussion, a sousaphone, and 5 horns) melds the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with a host of sounds, namely funk, go-go, latin, and jazz. Simply put, Sunny Jain and Red Baraat have created and defined a sound entirely their own.
It’s a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at Lincoln Center. Or the Montreal Jazz Festival. Or the Barbican. It’s a band unquestionably on the ascent playing some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres worldwide, and keeping their chops razor sharp in basements and sweaty sold out clubs across New York City. Leading an audience as diverse and joyful as the band itself, Red Baraat has subsumed a plateful of global influence, fused it, and is now exporting it Brooklyn-style to the world.
The group's most recent release, BOOTLEG BHANGRA, is the band’s incredibly powerful live show captured at Brooklyn’s Southpaw on the band’s second anniversary. With songs pulled primarily from their debut album, CHAAL BABY, the group was mindful of the challenge to capture a rapturous live sound on record. Well, it happened on this night, and the resulting document places you squarely in that small Brooklyn club jammed from front to back with hip shaking beauties - hands raised to a ceiling dripping with condensation. The band is currently at work on their 2nd studio date, SHRUGGY JI, which should see release in early 2012.
Most recently, the title track, Chaal Baby, is being used as the background music for the promo ads for the hit FX TV show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. After the group’s performance at the 2011 globalFEST, Red Baraat was a top pick favorite and featured on PRI’s The World, NPR’s All Songs Considered, New York Times, The Village Voice and Mother Jones magazine. The group's debut CD, CHAAL BABY (Sinj Records) was voted by several music critics as a top world and jazz release of 2010. Since their inception in October 2008, Red Baraat has delivered blistering performances at globalFEST, Montreal Jazz Festival, Sunfest, Festival De Louisiane, Quebec City Summer Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Madison World Music Festival, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival (Finland), Molde Jazz Festival (Norway) and Chicago Folks & Roots Festival, among many others. Red Baraat appeared on John Schaefer's Soundcheck WNYC-FM 93.9, an NPR affiliate, in which they were picked as a top live radio performance of 2009. They also recorded the credit roll theme song for the movie, The Yes Men Fix the World and performed for the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (NYC) for Ports 1961 runway models. Red Baraat has been featured in National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix and Songlines, among many others.
Press
INDIA CURRENTS :: by Priya Bhaat
Just watching them make music is a pure shot of adrenaline. > Read article
THE VILLAGE VOICE :: by Stacey Anderson
"Voice Choices" - Red Baraat have the locomotion of an arm > Read article
THE CHICAGO READER :: by Peter Margasak
The band artfully hybridizes Indian bhangra and something akin to New Orleans second-line funk. Plus it's fun as hell. > Read article
Photo by Sergio Royzen
Sunny Jain
Sunny Jain
Taboo draws upon the ancient poetic form of ghazal and combines lyricism with jazz and world music. Sunny's musical compositions are based around poems addressing issues such as religion, homosexuality and violence towards women, issues "taboo" in South Asian culture. Some of the poems are written by Ali Mir, Ifti Naseem, Ishrat Afreen, Kishwar Naheed, Vikram Seth, and Erin Thomas. This project was commissioned by Chamber Music America's New Works program. The premiere of this project was at Joe's Pub, NYC on December 13th, 2007 and co-sponsored by Sakhi for South Asian Women and Breakthrough. The current personnel includes Sunny Jain (drumset/dhol), Marc Cary (piano), Nir Felder (guitar) Gary Wang (bass), plus guest vocalists, Achyut Joshi, Sheetal Karhade, Samita Sinha, Shayna Steele, Sachal Vasandani, YaliniDream.
The debut recording was released in June 2010 on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records label and was commissioned by the Aaron Copland Recording Fund.
Press
JAZZTIMES :: by Carlo Wolff
This is album is a live wire. > Read article
EJAZZNEWS :: by Glenn Astarita
Jain has masterminded a gala that is divergent, unique and irrefutably compelling. A top pick for 2010, indeed. > Read article
Red Baraat at Pori Jazz Festival, Finland (Photo by Tommie Kolunen)
Junoon
Junoon, Urdu for obsession/passion, is a sufi rock band from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, formed in 1990. The band is directed by founder, guitarist and songwriter Salman Ahmad, Junoon is Pakistan's most successful band; the Q magazine regarded them as "One of the biggest bands in the world" where as The New York Times called Junoon "the U2 of Pakistan". Since their inception, the group has released a collective total of seventeen albums: seven studio albums; one soundtrack; two live albums; four video albums; and three compilations. Junoon is also South Asia's most successful band of all time with more than 30 million albums sold worldwide. The group currently consists of Salman Ahmad (vocals/guitars), Samir Chatterjee (tabla), Sunny Jain (drumset/dhol/percussion), John Alec (electric bass).
In December 2007, the group performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway for Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri. In May 2008, Junoon performed in the strife-torn Kashmir, the biggest musical event to occur there in nearly two decades, amid tight secuirty. In September 2009, Junoon performed at The Concert for Pakistan along with other musicians from around the world which included, Outlandish and Sting, held at the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Select tracks and 5 brand new songs sung in English were released on the Rock & Roll Jihad CD in 2010. In October 2010, Salman Ahmad released the track Open Your Eyes, featuring Peter Gabriel and to raise funds for the Pakistan flood victims.
