#study tabla toronto

[torontotablaensemble]

Toronto Tabla Ensemble’s lates CD available on iTunes.

[jazzeria]

Currently listening to (defunct?) Canadian Indian-jazz/fusion music group TASA.  Lately I’m in love with their album Soma [album on Google Play].

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tasamusic/ 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2YzVj8bAm4EqGVOCWlru00 

Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/preview/Aluwiz6azammcletj2ty2c357ju

Apparently defunct website: http://www.tasamusic.com/ 

From Facebook: 

Toronto’s Tasa is celebrating ten years as one of the country’s leading Indian world fusion ensembles by creating its most contemporary sounding fusion yet. On its brand new album, Alchemy, the group builds on its intricate Indo-jazz jam sound to create an even more sophisticated musical mélange that wouldn’t sound out of place in the Buddha Bar.

Alchemy features ethereal female vocals by new band member Samidha Joglekar (pr; sa-MEE-da JOGE-lay-ker), gorgeous violin solos by leading New York improviser Mark Feldman and occasional beats by DJ Olive, all of which gives the album a delightful world trance and chill-out feel. Co-producer (and Tasa bassist) Chris Gartner enhanced the effect by adding an assortment of electronic elements in post-production. Layered within is the band’s trademark mixture of intricate and evocative flute and sax melodies, groovy guitar and bass lines, lightening fast tabla and innovative global percussion.

Band leader Ravi Naimpally (pr. RUH-vee NY-im-pahl-lee) – once voted Toronto’s coolest musician by the readers of Eye – says the compositions were inspired in part by electric Miles and Indian melodies. He adds that the band has spent the three years since the release of its last album, Urban Turban, experimenting with new sounds to arrive at the current mix. DJ Olive was chosen as a collaborator for his rare ability to improvise alongside live musicians while following their lead. Feldman was approached to provide violin parts as a compliment to the Indian sarangi. Joglekar, though new to the core line-up of Tasa, was the guest vocalist on the band’s Urban Turban tour and has performed frequently with them ever since.

Naimpally formed Tasa in 1999 as a means to explore his dual identities as South Asian and Canadian. Born in Kanpur in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, he grew up in Thunder Bay, where his parents presented concerts by leading Indian musicians. Some of his first music lessons came from legends like Zakir Hussein and Anindo Chatterjee, who were staying at his home while performing. At sixteen, he began spending his summers in India, studying first with his uncle, Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, and later with Chatterjee. He went on to earn a Juno nomination as a member of the Thomas Handy Trio and to perform and record with Loreena McKennitt and Kiran Ahluwalia.

The other members of Tasa are equally accomplished - making the project a supergroup of sorts. Trumpet virtuoso Kevin Turcotte is a veteran of countless Toronto world and jazz groups and has shared the stage with international luminaries including Tito Puente, Dave Holland, Kenny Kirkwood, Pat LaBarbera, Bill Grove, and Kenny Wheeler. Global percussionist Alan Hetherington is the leader of Toronto’s Escola de Samba, which last year was a featured act at Sao Paolo Carnival. Guitarist and oud player John Gzowski has played with John Zorn, N.O.M.A., Maza Maze and Meryn Cadell to name a few. Bassist Chris Gartner is an alumnus of Look People, and has worked with Mary Magaret O'Hara, Garth Hudson, Martin Tielli, and Kevin Hearn & Thinbuckle.

Tasa released its debut CD, Bhakti, in 1999 and earned an Urban Music Award for Best World Album. They followed it up in 2001 with Soma and in 2006 with Urban Turban, which was met with considerable critical praise. The band toured Canadian jazz festivals in support of the release and was embraced by media across the country, appearing on CBC’s Sounds Like Canada and earning countless print features.

With Alchemy, Tasa once again pushes the musical envelope, creating a sound that will appeal to a wide range of music fans even beyond the traditional world and jazz audiences.

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/why-yoga-is-more-than-the-poses-you-practice-the-meaning-of-yoga/

Why Yoga is More Than the Poses You Practice | The Meaning of Yoga

Christopher Doughtery

When I moved to Los Angeles 17 years ago, a friend invited me to a Krishna Das concert. I didn’t know anything about him, so I was expecting perhaps an Indian classical singer with a sitar. Instead, I walked into a room of about 200 Western yogis—mostly Caucasian—sitting on the floor in front of a low-rise stage that held Krishna Das and about nine other musicians and singers. I took a seat in a sea of Caucasians singing and chanting Sanskrit mantras—with more than a few mispronunciations of the language. I remember feeling really confused and thinking, “What is happening? Where am I?” It felt very strange to be in this environment, as the only time I had experienced musicians sitting on the ground with a harmonium (an Indian keyboard instrument) and a tabla (an Indian drum) was at Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on Sundays.

Thanks for watching!Visit Website

See also Sanskrit 101: 4 Reasons Why Studying This Ancient Language Is Worth Your Time

Although I was born in Toronto, Canada, my parents are both from Punjab, India, and they kept our traditions alive and strong. Back then I thought we were weird because of the way we dressed, did our hair, wore bindis, and sang our prayers. Growing up, I wanted to fit in so badly that I even wished to be white, blond, and blue-eyed during a teenage moment in which I refused to answer unless my family called me “Jenny.” Today, I feel sad for that girl who yearned to be someone other than her beautiful, unique self.

Thanks for watching!Visit Website

Thanks for watching!Visit Website

I never would have believed it back then if you told me that Western culture would want to be . . . well, us.

Here I was being led in kirtan (devotional chant) by a Jewish man (by birth) who was teaching and sharing the names of the Vedic deities. At first all I could focus on was the way people around me were mispronouncing the words. Then I closed my eyes and let go into the vibe of the music. My heart opened wide and tears rolled down my face, dripping off my jawline to my kurta (long shirt). The judgmental thoughts of “this is right” or “this is wrong” dropped. I allowed myself to receive what was here for me, for us all: the high vibrations of the music. I realized that bhakti (devotion) comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lineages. I felt there was truth to what Krishna Das was sharing with his heart that can benefit us all.

See also The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita

Now the Western world has drunk the delicious mango lassi Kool-Aid and thousands, if not millions, of people want to pursue the path of being a yoga instructor, guru, and kirtan walla (a devoted singer who travels temple to temple—or, in the modern Western equivalent now, from festival to yoga studio to retreat).

But this rise in popularity of yoga in the West isn’t always something to celebrate. I didn’t even know what cultural appropriation meant until a couple of years ago, when a few of the more traditional yogis (those steeped in the Raja Yoga path) brought me into a conversation about the Western “conscious event” organizers choosing to exclude Indians who have a lineage of teachers or singers in their families. Instead, they were inviting Westerners with big Instagram followings who had just learned yogasana a few years ago. It’s become a business, and as with any business, the goal is to bring in more income and serve more people, so if those people happen to be teaching “yoga”—in a form that mostly focuses on postures—should we accept that it isn’t fully representing the lifestyle of being a yogi?

See also Do You Really Know the True Meaning of Yoga?

My teacher of yoga philosophy is Jeffrey Armstrong, a Vedic scholar who happens to be white-skinned and is deeply immersed in the traditions of yoga. I don’t have a problem with Westerners teaching yoga, but what I do find daunting is when teachers lead you through poses for an hour and call it yoga. Call this asana, call this exercise, but don’t call it yoga—that’s not what it is. Yoga is a whole system that includes breathwork, sound vibration, devotion, and meditation.

I believe there needs to be a balance of honoring tradition and allowing for modernization. We can greatly benefit from celebrating and learning from Indian singers and Vedic teachers who are beautifully steeped in tradition. We also benefit by making room for modern approaches to the yogic and devotional path. Let’s chant, share, and grow together to raise the vibration of the planet.

See also The Wake-Up Call Yogis Need to Bring ‘Real Yoga’ Back Into Their Practice

Yoga movement and dance teacher Hemalayaa Behl

Christopher Dougherty

About our author

Hemalayaa Behl is a leader, mentor, and author of the Embody Oracle Card Deck. She empowers women through movement with her Bollywood Dance Fitness videos and live-streaming of dance parties. Learn more at Hemalayaa.com.

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[krisiunicornio]

A yoga movement and dance teacher examines her experiences with kirtan—from Sikh temple on Sundays with her family to concerts and festivals with hundreds of people in the crowd.

When I moved to Los Angeles 17 years ago, a friend invited me to a Krishna Das concert. I didn’t know anything about him, so I was expecting perhaps an Indian classical singer with a sitar. Instead, I walked into a room of about 200 Western yogis—mostly Caucasian—sitting on the floor in front of a low-rise stage that held Krishna Das and about nine other musicians and singers. I took a seat in a sea of Caucasians singing and chanting Sanskrit mantras—with more than a few mispronunciations of the language. I remember feeling really confused and thinking, “What is happening? Where am I?” It felt very strange to be in this environment, as the only time I had experienced musicians sitting on the ground with a harmonium (an Indian keyboard instrument) and a tabla (an Indian drum) was at Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on Sundays.

See also Sanskrit 101: 4 Reasons Why Studying This Ancient Language Is Worth Your Time

Although I was born in Toronto, Canada, my parents are both from Punjab, India, and they kept our traditions alive and strong. Back then I thought we were weird because of the way we dressed, did our hair, wore bindis, and sang our prayers. Growing up, I wanted to fit in so badly that I even wished to be white, blond, and blue-eyed during a teenage moment in which I refused to answer unless my family called me “Jenny.” Today, I feel sad for that girl who yearned to be someone other than her beautiful, unique self.

I never would have believed it back then if you told me that Western culture would want to be . . . well, us.

Here I was being led in kirtan (devotional chant) by a Jewish man (by birth) who was teaching and sharing the names of the Vedic deities. At first all I could focus on was the way people around me were mispronouncing the words. Then I closed my eyes and let go into the vibe of the music. My heart opened wide and tears rolled down my face, dripping off my jawline to my kurta (long shirt). The judgmental thoughts of “this is right” or “this is wrong” dropped. I allowed myself to receive what was here for me, for us all: the high vibrations of the music. I realized that bhakti (devotion) comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lineages. I felt there was truth to what Krishna Das was sharing with his heart that can benefit us all.

See also The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita

Now the Western world has drunk the delicious mango lassi Kool-Aid and thousands, if not millions, of people want to pursue the path of being a yoga instructor, guru, and kirtan walla (a devoted singer who travels temple to temple—or, in the modern Western equivalent now, from festival to yoga studio to retreat).

But this rise in popularity of yoga in the West isn’t always something to celebrate. I didn’t even know what cultural appropriation meant until a couple of years ago, when a few of the more traditional yogis (those steeped in the Raja Yoga path) brought me into a conversation about the Western “conscious event” organizers choosing to exclude Indians who have a lineage of teachers or singers in their families. Instead, they were inviting Westerners with big Instagram followings who had just learned yogasana a few years ago. It’s become a business, and as with any business, the goal is to bring in more income and serve more people, so if those people happen to be teaching “yoga”—in a form that mostly focuses on postures—should we accept that it isn’t fully representing the lifestyle of being a yogi?

See also Do You Really Know the True Meaning of Yoga?

My teacher of yoga philosophy is Jeffrey Armstrong, a Vedic scholar who happens to be white-skinned and is deeply immersed in the traditions of yoga. I don’t have a problem with Westerners teaching yoga, but what I do find daunting is when teachers lead you through poses for an hour and call it yoga. Call this asana, call this exercise, but don’t call it yoga—that’s not what it is. Yoga is a whole system that includes breathwork, sound vibration, devotion, and meditation.

I believe there needs to be a balance of honoring tradition and allowing for modernization. We can greatly benefit from celebrating and learning from Indian singers and Vedic teachers who are beautifully steeped in tradition. We also benefit by making room for modern approaches to the yogic and devotional path. Let's chant, share, and grow together to raise the vibration of the planet.

See also The Wake-Up Call Yogis Need to Bring 'Real Yoga' Back Into Their Practice

Yoga movement and dance teacher Hemalayaa Behl

About our author

Hemalayaa Behl is a leader, mentor, and author of the Embody Oracle Card Deck. She empowers women through movement with her Bollywood Dance Fitness videos and live-streaming of dance parties. Learn more at Hemalayaa.com.

[cedarrrun]

A yoga movement and dance teacher examines her experiences with kirtan—from Sikh temple on Sundays with her family to concerts and festivals with hundreds of people in the crowd.

When I moved to Los Angeles 17 years ago, a friend invited me to a Krishna Das concert. I didn’t know anything about him, so I was expecting perhaps an Indian classical singer with a sitar. Instead, I walked into a room of about 200 Western yogis—mostly Caucasian—sitting on the floor in front of a low-rise stage that held Krishna Das and about nine other musicians and singers. I took a seat in a sea of Caucasians singing and chanting Sanskrit mantras—with more than a few mispronunciations of the language. I remember feeling really confused and thinking, “What is happening? Where am I?” It felt very strange to be in this environment, as the only time I had experienced musicians sitting on the ground with a harmonium (an Indian keyboard instrument) and a tabla (an Indian drum) was at Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on Sundays.

See also Sanskrit 101: 4 Reasons Why Studying This Ancient Language Is Worth Your Time

Although I was born in Toronto, Canada, my parents are both from Punjab, India, and they kept our traditions alive and strong. Back then I thought we were weird because of the way we dressed, did our hair, wore bindis, and sang our prayers. Growing up, I wanted to fit in so badly that I even wished to be white, blond, and blue-eyed during a teenage moment in which I refused to answer unless my family called me “Jenny.” Today, I feel sad for that girl who yearned to be someone other than her beautiful, unique self.

I never would have believed it back then if you told me that Western culture would want to be . . . well, us.

Here I was being led in kirtan (devotional chant) by a Jewish man (by birth) who was teaching and sharing the names of the Vedic deities. At first all I could focus on was the way people around me were mispronouncing the words. Then I closed my eyes and let go into the vibe of the music. My heart opened wide and tears rolled down my face, dripping off my jawline to my kurta (long shirt). The judgmental thoughts of “this is right” or “this is wrong” dropped. I allowed myself to receive what was here for me, for us all: the high vibrations of the music. I realized that bhakti (devotion) comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lineages. I felt there was truth to what Krishna Das was sharing with his heart that can benefit us all.

See also The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita

Now the Western world has drunk the delicious mango lassi Kool-Aid and thousands, if not millions, of people want to pursue the path of being a yoga instructor, guru, and kirtan walla (a devoted singer who travels temple to temple—or, in the modern Western equivalent now, from festival to yoga studio to retreat).

But this rise in popularity of yoga in the West isn’t always something to celebrate. I didn’t even know what cultural appropriation meant until a couple of years ago, when a few of the more traditional yogis (those steeped in the Raja Yoga path) brought me into a conversation about the Western “conscious event” organizers choosing to exclude Indians who have a lineage of teachers or singers in their families. Instead, they were inviting Westerners with big Instagram followings who had just learned yogasana a few years ago. It’s become a business, and as with any business, the goal is to bring in more income and serve more people, so if those people happen to be teaching “yoga”—in a form that mostly focuses on postures—should we accept that it isn’t fully representing the lifestyle of being a yogi?

See also Do You Really Know the True Meaning of Yoga?

My teacher of yoga philosophy is Jeffrey Armstrong, a Vedic scholar who happens to be white-skinned and is deeply immersed in the traditions of yoga. I don’t have a problem with Westerners teaching yoga, but what I do find daunting is when teachers lead you through poses for an hour and call it yoga. Call this asana, call this exercise, but don’t call it yoga—that’s not what it is. Yoga is a whole system that includes breathwork, sound vibration, devotion, and meditation.

I believe there needs to be a balance of honoring tradition and allowing for modernization. We can greatly benefit from celebrating and learning from Indian singers and Vedic teachers who are beautifully steeped in tradition. We also benefit by making room for modern approaches to the yogic and devotional path. Let's chant, share, and grow together to raise the vibration of the planet.

See also The Wake-Up Call Yogis Need to Bring 'Real Yoga' Back Into Their Practice

Yoga movement and dance teacher Hemalayaa Behl

About our author

Hemalayaa Behl is a leader, mentor, and author of the Embody Oracle Card Deck. She empowers women through movement with her Bollywood Dance Fitness videos and live-streaming of dance parties. Learn more at Hemalayaa.com.

[amyddaniels]

Why Yoga is More Than the Poses You Practice In Class

A yoga movement and dance teacher examines her experiences with kirtan—from Sikh temple on Sundays with her family to concerts and festivals with hundreds of people in the crowd.

When I moved to Los Angeles 17 years ago, a friend invited me to a Krishna Das concert. I didn’t know anything about him, so I was expecting perhaps an Indian classical singer with a sitar. Instead, I walked into a room of about 200 Western yogis—mostly Caucasian—sitting on the floor in front of a low-rise stage that held Krishna Das and about nine other musicians and singers. I took a seat in a sea of Caucasians singing and chanting Sanskrit mantras—with more than a few mispronunciations of the language. I remember feeling really confused and thinking, “What is happening? Where am I?” It felt very strange to be in this environment, as the only time I had experienced musicians sitting on the ground with a harmonium (an Indian keyboard instrument) and a tabla (an Indian drum) was at Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on Sundays.

See also Sanskrit 101: 4 Reasons Why Studying This Ancient Language Is Worth Your Time

Although I was born in Toronto, Canada, my parents are both from Punjab, India, and they kept our traditions alive and strong. Back then I thought we were weird because of the way we dressed, did our hair, wore bindis, and sang our prayers. Growing up, I wanted to fit in so badly that I even wished to be white, blond, and blue-eyed during a teenage moment in which I refused to answer unless my family called me “Jenny.” Today, I feel sad for that girl who yearned to be someone other than her beautiful, unique self.

I never would have believed it back then if you told me that Western culture would want to be . . . well, us.

Here I was being led in kirtan (devotional chant) by a Jewish man (by birth) who was teaching and sharing the names of the Vedic deities. At first all I could focus on was the way people around me were mispronouncing the words. Then I closed my eyes and let go into the vibe of the music. My heart opened wide and tears rolled down my face, dripping off my jawline to my kurta (long shirt). The judgmental thoughts of “this is right” or “this is wrong” dropped. I allowed myself to receive what was here for me, for us all: the high vibrations of the music. I realized that bhakti (devotion) comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lineages. I felt there was truth to what Krishna Das was sharing with his heart that can benefit us all.

See also The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita

Now the Western world has drunk the delicious mango lassi Kool-Aid and thousands, if not millions, of people want to pursue the path of being a yoga instructor, guru, and kirtan walla (a devoted singer who travels temple to temple—or, in the modern Western equivalent now, from festival to yoga studio to retreat).

But this rise in popularity of yoga in the West isn’t always something to celebrate. I didn’t even know what cultural appropriation meant until a couple of years ago, when a few of the more traditional yogis (those steeped in the Raja Yoga path) brought me into a conversation about the Western “conscious event” organizers choosing to exclude Indians who have a lineage of teachers or singers in their families. Instead, they were inviting Westerners with big Instagram followings who had just learned yogasana a few years ago. It’s become a business, and as with any business, the goal is to bring in more income and serve more people, so if those people happen to be teaching “yoga”—in a form that mostly focuses on postures—should we accept that it isn’t fully representing the lifestyle of being a yogi?

See also Do You Really Know the True Meaning of Yoga?

My teacher of yoga philosophy is Jeffrey Armstrong, a Vedic scholar who happens to be white-skinned and is deeply immersed in the traditions of yoga. I don’t have a problem with Westerners teaching yoga, but what I do find daunting is when teachers lead you through poses for an hour and call it yoga. Call this asana, call this exercise, but don’t call it yoga—that’s not what it is. Yoga is a whole system that includes breathwork, sound vibration, devotion, and meditation.

I believe there needs to be a balance of honoring tradition and allowing for modernization. We can greatly benefit from celebrating and learning from Indian singers and Vedic teachers who are beautifully steeped in tradition. We also benefit by making room for modern approaches to the yogic and devotional path. Let's chant, share, and grow together to raise the vibration of the planet.

See also The Wake-Up Call Yogis Need to Bring 'Real Yoga' Back Into Their Practice

Yoga movement and dance teacher Hemalayaa Behl

About our author

Hemalayaa Behl is a leader, mentor, and author of the Embody Oracle Card Deck. She empowers women through movement with her Bollywood Dance Fitness videos and live-streaming of dance parties. Learn more at Hemalayaa.com.

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA: Steve McQuarry's Mandala Nonet & Orchestra to Perform the Music of Gil Evans at SFJAZZ Center, Sat. March 4

Steve McQuarry's

Mandala Nonet & Orchestra

To Perform the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4 At the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium  

McQuarry to Use Evans Scores From 1947 through 1973, Some Not Discovered Until Recently

  January 9, 2017

  Oakland-based keyboardist-composer Steve McQuarry has long been in love with the unique music of Gil Evans, the late, largely-self-taught Toronto-born composer, arranger, and keyboardist best remembered for his numerous collaborations with Miles Davis.

  "The whole way he thought about orchestrating using instruments and also pushing those instruments in different ranges is really fascinating," McQuarry says of Evans. "I remember talking with Maria Schneider about this. She said he would write the trombone parts really high and things like that, which academically trained arrangers are told not to do, and how that changed a lot of textures and tone quality in the sound."

  For a program of a dozen Evans arrangements drawn from his early days with the Claude Thornhill big band through his later work with Davis, Kenny Burrell, and his own ensembles, McQuarry has expanded his 19-member Mandala Orchestra to 25 pieces to accommodate instruments Evans sometimes used to enrich his voicings, including French horn, English horn, oboe, bassoon, and cello, as well as downsized it to nine to play three pieces from Davis's legendary 1949-1950 "Birth of the Cool" sessions.

  McQuarry's Evans concert will take place on Saturday, March 4, at the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium, the scene of his highly successful tribute to Carla Bley in June of last year.

  No transcriptions from recordings will be performed. The musicians will instead play from original Evans scores -- some written in pencil by the composer himself -- supplied by composer Ryan Truesdell. An associate of Maria Schneider, Truesdell had gathered arrangements from Evans's family, musicians who had worked with him, and from the archives of bandleaders for whom he had worked, among other sources, and recorded 10 of them for his critically acclaimed 2012 CD Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans.

  The earliest Evans composition on the program is "The Troubadour," first recorded by the Thornhill orchestra in 1947. Another Evans composition in the set is "Dancing on a Great Big Rainbow," written for Thornhill in 1950 by not recorded until 2012 by Truesdell. The Mandala Orchestra will also perform "Blues for Pablo" and "The Maids of Cadiz" (both from Davis's 1957 album Miles Ahead) and "Greensleeves" (from the 1964 Kenny Burrell album Guitar Forms), as well as "St. Louis Blues," "La Nevada Blues," "Punjab," and "Eleven," all from various albums made by Evans's own bands. And the Nonet will play "Budo," "Israel," and "Boplicity" from Birth of the Cool.

  Although born in Canada, on May 13, 1912, Gil Evans resided in the United States from the time he was a boy. He became enamored of the music of Louis Armstrong and other early jazz greats while living in Berkeley in the mid-1920s and formed a nine-piece swing band in Stockton a few years later. He spent most of the 1940s as a staff arranger for the Thornhill band, whose distinctive style greatly influenced that of the Miles Davis Nonet that made the sessions that became known as Birth of the Cool. He recorded in subsequent years with various vocalists and instrumentalists and with bands of his own, but it is the four classic Columbia albums he made with Davis -- Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960), and Quiet Nights (1963) -- that Evans's reputation most strongly sits in the minds of many. He died on March 20, 1988.

  Steve McQuarry, who was born in Denver on August 17, 1959, took his first arranging class at age 17 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, with

Oakland-born composer-arranger Russell Garcia, renowned for his work Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, and many others. McQuarry also studied at the University of Colorado at Denver, Berklee College of Music, UC San Diego, and Alexander University. An Oakland resident for the past decade, he has performed as a pianist at Yoshi's San Francisco with his own trio and with flutist Gerald Beckett's quartet and has broadcast with his chamber octet Resonance over KPFA in Berkeley and KKUP in Cupertino. He currently records for his own label, Mandala Records, with his piano jazz trio and the jazz ensembles Resonance, Steve McQuarry Organ Trio, Art-Jazz-Rock group, Echelon; Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz band, Tribu the electronica group Synsor; and the new age group Agharta. 

"I named my record label, the octet, and the orchestra Mandala after meeting the Dalai Lama and some Tibetan monks drawing mandalas on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley some years ago," he says.

The Mandala Orchestra members are pianists Steve McQuarry and Laura Klein; trumpeters Justin Smith, John Worley, Niel Levonius, and Henry Hung; trombonists Keith Yee, Tim Phelan, Joshua Sankara, and Christian Manzana; French hornist Winston Macaraeg; tuba player Portia Njoku; flutist Gerald Beckett; saxophonists Ruben Salcido, Amelia Catalano, Corey Wright, Georgianna Krieger, and Hermann Lara; oboe and English horn player Glenda Bates; bassoonist Wendell Hanna; cellist Nancy Bien; guitarist Mason Razavi; double bassist Ted Burik; drummer Greg German: and tabla player Jim Santi Owens.

  Steve McQuarry Presents Gil Evans Tribute, March 4

Steve McQuarry Presents Mandala Nonet & Orchestra Performing the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4, 8:00 p.m.

SFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium

201 Franklin Street

San Francisco

Tickets: $25

RSVP to mcquarry.org  

  Photography: Irene Young

          Web Site: mcquarry.org

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Media Contact:

Terri Hinte hudba@sbcglobal.net 510/234-8781 via Blogger http://ift.tt/2iSTuvH

[torontotablaensemble]

Media Release

[torontotablaensemble]

New Beginning Tabla Classes in Mississauga.  Twenty mins from Oakville.

[torontotablaensemble]

Faceoff gets three Laurels, from India. Well deserved. My brother would have been extremely proud of his Sister -in-law Melissa who added such strong visuals to this song from an album dedicated to him. Great work by my students Razak Pirani Shamir Panchal Nivethan for composing and strong support melodically by Raaginder Singh Momi and followed by yet another strong approach through Kathak dance by my brothers senior student Labonee Mohanta. Congratulation to the whole team and I am sure this is going to win more recognition and awards.

[torontotablaensemble]

Toronto Tabla Ensemble’s latest Music Video Faceoff from the new CD #BHUMIKA. Directed and produced by Melissa Das_Arp of Taal Productions 

[torontotablaensemble]

Tabla Class

[torontotablaensemble]

Tabla Taiko Show in Toronto.

[torontotablaensemble]

Beginners Tabla Class in Mississauga. Training tabla players: Tabla class program consists of rigorous training in theoretical and practical aspects of the Hindustani classical art of tabla. The courses are overseen by academic director of the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, Ritesh Das. Training professional artists: While continuing advanced studies in tabla under Ritesh Das, the student also focuses on obtaining skills in arts administration and arts presentation. The advanced tabla study consists of further repertoire as well as experience in teaching tabla classes, accompanying classical music and dance, and composing.

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA: Steve McQuarry's Mandala Nonet & Orchestra to Perform the Music of Gil Evans at SFJAZZ Center, Sat. March 4

Steve McQuarry's

Mandala Nonet & Orchestra

To Perform the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4 At the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium  

McQuarry to Use Evans Scores From 1947 through 1973, Some Not Discovered Until Recently

  January 9, 2017

  Oakland-based keyboardist-composer Steve McQuarry has long been in love with the unique music of Gil Evans, the late, largely-self-taught Toronto-born composer, arranger, and keyboardist best remembered for his numerous collaborations with Miles Davis.

  "The whole way he thought about orchestrating using instruments and also pushing those instruments in different ranges is really fascinating," McQuarry says of Evans. "I remember talking with Maria Schneider about this. She said he would write the trombone parts really high and things like that, which academically trained arrangers are told not to do, and how that changed a lot of textures and tone quality in the sound."

  For a program of a dozen Evans arrangements drawn from his early days with the Claude Thornhill big band through his later work with Davis, Kenny Burrell, and his own ensembles, McQuarry has expanded his 19-member Mandala Orchestra to 25 pieces to accommodate instruments Evans sometimes used to enrich his voicings, including French horn, English horn, oboe, bassoon, and cello, as well as downsized it to nine to play three pieces from Davis's legendary 1949-1950 "Birth of the Cool" sessions.

  McQuarry's Evans concert will take place on Saturday, March 4, at the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium, the scene of his highly successful tribute to Carla Bley in June of last year.

  No transcriptions from recordings will be performed. The musicians will instead play from original Evans scores -- some written in pencil by the composer himself -- supplied by composer Ryan Truesdell. An associate of Maria Schneider, Truesdell had gathered arrangements from Evans's family, musicians who had worked with him, and from the archives of bandleaders for whom he had worked, among other sources, and recorded 10 of them for his critically acclaimed 2012 CD Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans.

  The earliest Evans composition on the program is "The Troubadour," first recorded by the Thornhill orchestra in 1947. Another Evans composition in the set is "Dancing on a Great Big Rainbow," written for Thornhill in 1950 by not recorded until 2012 by Truesdell. The Mandala Orchestra will also perform "Blues for Pablo" and "The Maids of Cadiz" (both from Davis's 1957 album Miles Ahead) and "Greensleeves" (from the 1964 Kenny Burrell album Guitar Forms), as well as "St. Louis Blues," "La Nevada Blues," "Punjab," and "Eleven," all from various albums made by Evans's own bands. And the Nonet will play "Budo," "Israel," and "Boplicity" from Birth of the Cool.

  Although born in Canada, on May 13, 1912, Gil Evans resided in the United States from the time he was a boy. He became enamored of the music of Louis Armstrong and other early jazz greats while living in Berkeley in the mid-1920s and formed a nine-piece swing band in Stockton a few years later. He spent most of the 1940s as a staff arranger for the Thornhill band, whose distinctive style greatly influenced that of the Miles Davis Nonet that made the sessions that became known as Birth of the Cool. He recorded in subsequent years with various vocalists and instrumentalists and with bands of his own, but it is the four classic Columbia albums he made with Davis -- Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960), and Quiet Nights (1963) -- that Evans's reputation most strongly sits in the minds of many. He died on March 20, 1988.

  Steve McQuarry, who was born in Denver on August 17, 1959, took his first arranging class at age 17 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, with

Oakland-born composer-arranger Russell Garcia, renowned for his work Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, and many others. McQuarry also studied at the University of Colorado at Denver, Berklee College of Music, UC San Diego, and Alexander University. An Oakland resident for the past decade, he has performed as a pianist at Yoshi's San Francisco with his own trio and with flutist Gerald Beckett's quartet and has broadcast with his chamber octet Resonance over KPFA in Berkeley and KKUP in Cupertino. He currently records for his own label, Mandala Records, with his piano jazz trio and the jazz ensembles Resonance, Steve McQuarry Organ Trio, Art-Jazz-Rock group, Echelon; Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz band, Tribu the electronica group Synsor; and the new age group Agharta. 

"I named my record label, the octet, and the orchestra Mandala after meeting the Dalai Lama and some Tibetan monks drawing mandalas on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley some years ago," he says.

The Mandala Orchestra members are pianists Steve McQuarry and Laura Klein; trumpeters Justin Smith, John Worley, Niel Levonius, and Henry Hung; trombonists Keith Yee, Tim Phelan, Joshua Sankara, and Christian Manzana; French hornist Winston Macaraeg; tuba player Portia Njoku; flutist Gerald Beckett; saxophonists Ruben Salcido, Amelia Catalano, Corey Wright, Georgianna Krieger, and Hermann Lara; oboe and English horn player Glenda Bates; bassoonist Wendell Hanna; cellist Nancy Bien; guitarist Mason Razavi; double bassist Ted Burik; drummer Greg German: and tabla player Jim Santi Owens.

  Steve McQuarry Presents Gil Evans Tribute, March 4

Steve McQuarry Presents Mandala Nonet & Orchestra Performing the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4, 8:00 p.m.

SFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium

201 Franklin Street

San Francisco

Tickets: $25

RSVP to mcquarry.org  

  Photography: Irene Young

          Web Site: mcquarry.org

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