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India Jazz
Sandip Chatterjee and I co-founded Calcutta Express in March 2004. Prior to this I had collaborated with several Indian musicians, including my teacher, Pt. Ashok Roy (disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) and Jaipur guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; best known for his work with Ry Cooder on the album Meeting by the River. When I first heard Sandip Chatterjee’s music and jazz sensibilities on the santoor I became very interested in the possibility of collaborating with him. In February 2004, at his invitation, I travelled to Kolkata with unequivocal enthusiasm.
This was an exciting personal and professional experience for me. It allowed me to test my skills within the musical territory - India - that forms a significant influence on my work as a composer and improviser. More importantly though, I enjoyed the process of this collaboration, the synergy between the musicians and the making of special friendships and music. I like to thank the Australia Council for the Arts for supporting the initial stage of this project.
I am very pleased to be associated with Underscore Records, the brainchild of master vocalist Shubha Mudgal and tabla master Aneesh Pradhan. The CD was released in 2006, it was a finalist in the Indie Acoustic Project Awards (US) for “Best CDs of 2006” in the World Music category; “ http://www.indieacoustic.com/ It is available here or from: http://www.underscorerecords.com/catalog/audio/index.php?sort=name&page=2.