Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Trilok Gurtu was born October 30, 1951 to Hindu Brahmin parents in Mumbai, India. His mother was a famous classical vocalist who encouraged him to learn to play the tabla. He attended Don Bosco High School in Mumbai and he received formal training in percussion from Shah Abdul Karim.
Gurtu began playing a western drum kit in the 1970s, and developed an interest in jazz. Not understanding overdubbing he learned multiple parts which most musicians would have never attempted. In the 1970s, he played with Charlie Mariano, John Tchicai, Terje Rypdal, and Don Cherry.
In 1977 he recorded Apo-Calypso, an album by the German ethnic fusion band Embryo. His mother also sang on that record, and later joined him on his first solo CD, Usfret. The 1980s saw Trilok playing with Swiss drummer Charly Antolini and with John McLaughlin in McLaughlin’s trio. He joined Oregon and played on three of their records. In the early 1990s, he resumed his career as a solo artist and a bandleader.
By the end of the decade he was a member of Tabla Beat Science, collaborated with the Arkè String Quartet in 2007, and in 2012 with the electronic folk duo Hari & Sukhmani. He has worked with Terje Rypdal, Gary Moore, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul, Michel Bisceglia, Bill Laswell, Maria João & Mário Laginha, Stefano Bollani and Robert Miles.
Drummer, percussionist, tabla player and composer Trilok Gurtu continues to compose, perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chris Karan was born Chrisostomos Karanikis on October 14, 1939 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In the early 1960s he played in the Three Out Trio with Mike Nock and Freddy Logan in Sydney, Australia.
A move to London, England in 1962 saw him becaming the drummer in the Dudley Moore Trio. He toured and recorded with Moore for many years, including appearances on the TV series Not Only But Also and the soundtrack of the 1967 movie Bedazzled. Their association continued until Moore’s last major public appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2001.
Karan has worked with Michel Legrand, Lalo Schifrin, Charles Aznavour, the Swingle Singers, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Myers, Basil Kirchin, Tony Hatch, Jackie Trent, Jerry Goldsmith, Jerry Fielding, Pat Williams, André Previn, Richard Rodney Bennett, Barry Tuckwell, Carl Davis, Henry Mancini, the Beatles, the Seekers, Katie Melua and Roy Budd.
He toured with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, the Bee Gees, Caterina Valente, Dusty Springfield, Lulu and the Yardbirds. He was a member of the Harry Stoneham group, which provided the musical backing for the Michael Parkinson shows on BBC-TV.
As a member of Roy Budd’s band, the Roy Love Trio, he performed on the Get Carter 1971 film soundtrack. He plays the tabla on some albums, having studied the instrument under the Indian musician Alla Rakha. He has recorded with Dudley Moore, Ronnie Scott, Teresa Brewer, Ian Carr, Ray Ellington, Stephane Grappelli, Cleo Laine, Oliver Nelson, among numerous others.
Drummer and percussionist Chris Karan, who at 84 years of age has recorded 84 albums as a sideman, continues to perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hamid Drake was born Henry Lawrence Drake on August 3, 1955 in Monroe, Louisiana but his family moved to Evanston, Illinois, when he was a child. There he started playing with local rock and R&B bands, which eventually brought him to the attention of Fred Anderson, an older saxophonist who had also moved to Evanston from Monroe as a child decades before. Drake worked with Anderson from 1974 to 2010 including on his 1979 The Missing Link.
At Anderson’s workshops, he met Douglas Ewart, George E. Lewis and other members of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Percussionist Ed Blackwell had a great influence on Drake, during this period. His flowing rhythmic expressions and interest in the roots of the music drew like-minded musicians together into a performance and educational collective named the Mandingo Griot Society, which combined traditional African music and narrative with distinctly American influences.
During the Seventies he met Don Cherry and with Adam Rudolph toured Europe and worked extensively with him from 1978 until Cherry’s death in 1995. It was during this period where they explored the interior landscape of percussion and shared deeply in Mr. Cherry’s grasp of music’s spiritually infinite transformational possibilities.
By the close of the 1990s, Hamid was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free jazz improvisers, performed world music and reggae during his career.
Drummer and percussionist Hamid Drake, who also plays the tabla, continues to perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Keshav Sathe was born on January 31, 1928 in Bombay, India and began his professional career in 1951, working with a local Indian vocalist Kelkar. Moving to the United Kingdom in 1956 he joined the Asian Music Circle, a pool of London-based Indian musicians run by former political activist Ayana Deva Angadi. His first contact with jazz was in 1961 while working with Indian sitarist Bhaskar Chandavarkar and harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler.
In 1965 Sathe began his Indo Jazz Fusion performances and recordings with John Mayer and Joe Harriott, a musical relationship that lasted until 1970. In 1967 he was invited with his trio to join the trio of jazz pianist Irène Schweizer together with Barney Willen, Mani Neumeier, Uli Trepte and Manfred Schoof.
From 1970~73 he worked and toured with Julie Felix and Danny Thompson. Through Danny, in 1974, he joined the John Renbourn Group touring UK, Europe and the United States. They produced records, including A Maid in Bedlam, Enchanted Garden and Live in America.
In the 1980s, Sathe formed a group with Tony Roberts and dancer Shobhana Jeyasingh, touring the UK and Northern Ireland. With the singer Alisha Sufit and the group, he made the record Magic Carpet. From 1965 to 1993 he regularly accompanied the late singer/dancer Surya Kumari in recitals and teaching workshops. He appears on Suns of Arqa’s live album Musical Revue which was recorded in Manchester in 1982.
In addition, he has made numerous incidental recordings, worked for television, radio, and taught tabla until 2003. Tablaist Keshav Sathe, best known for his contributions to the Indo-jazz fusion genre, transitioned on January 18, 2012.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sameer Gupta was born July 1, 1976 in San Francisco, California. Now based in Brooklyn, New York he is a co-founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive, the jazz ensemble The Supplicants and drummer for the Marc Cary Focus Trio.
He has also worked with vidyA, Kosmic Renaissance, Grachan Moncur III, Victor Goines, Vincent Gardner, Sekou Sundiata, Sonny Simmons, Marcus Shelby, Calvin Keys, Richard Howell, Dayna Stephens, and Julian Lage.
Percussionist, tabla player, and composer Sameer Gupta continues to compose, perform and record.
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