Joel Harrison Quintet Featuring Sarodist Anupam Shobhakar with Talujon Percussion Quartet:

About

Inspired by South Indian percussion and certain Indian ragas, guitarist-composer Joel Harrison began writing the music for Turning World nearly a decade ago—he had just met the virtuoso Anupam Shobhakar and their collaborative process fed Harrison new ideas, determined to find obscure connections between the jazz musician’s and Indian musician’s approaches to improvising. And he delved into his love of percussion—the tip tap of mallets, the thunder of timpani, the slap of sticks on skins. Harrison tried to make each movement a world unto itself yet connected to the whole, highlighting different components of the ensemble.

Joel Harrison: electric, National Steel, acoustic guitars
Anupam Shobhakar: sarode
Dan Weiss: drums, tabla
Stephan Crump: acoustic bass
Saxophone (TBD)
Percussion: Matt Ward, David Cossin, Michael Lipsey, V. Selvaganesh, plus special guests

Washington D.C. native Joel Harrison is a guitarist, composer, arranger, vocalist, and songwriter. Named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010, he has released 20 albums on seven record labels since 1994. Harrison has spent his career traversing jazz, classical, rock, country, W. African, Indian, and classical music. He is a resident of Brooklyn NY and founder of the Alternative Guitar Summit, a yearly gathering of some of the most creative guitarists on earth.

Talujon Quartet has been mesmerizing audiences since for well over two decades, committing itself to the growth of contemporary percussion music through diverse performance, commissioning, educational, and outreach activities. Highlights of Talujon’s recent engagements include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon, and Carnegie Hall.

Anupam Shobhakar, is an Indian musician, composer, instrumentalist, record producer, and classically trained sarodist currently living in Brooklyn, New York. He has released three World Fusion albums, and one classical Indian music album. He has performed live around the world at various venues and for charitable causes.

Shifting Foundation grantee Dan Weiss has been hailed as one of the top five jazz drummers in The New York Times, and his large ensemble recording “Fourteen” made the top ten list of their best recordings of 2014. Weiss’s innovative drumming and forward thinking compositions have been pushing musical limits for years.

Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated, Echo Award-winning bassist/composer Stephan Crump is an active bandleader with twelve critically-acclaimed album releases in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, his focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation.

SELVAGANESH represents the new breed of percussionist emerging from India. They are young, cosmopolitan and adventurous. The son of T H Vikku Vinayakram, Selvaganesh emerges also from a disciplic tradition. Now in his twenties, he has already gained renowned respect among leading musicians of the Carnatic tradition, and was a member of John McLaughlin’s “Remember Shakti.”