Sunny Jain

Sunny Jain
Background information
Born 1975 (age 42–43)
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Genres Jazz, world, bhangra, drum and bass
Occupation(s) Musician, record producer
Instruments Dhol, drums, percussion
Years active 1993–present
Labels Sinj
Associated acts Junoon, Red Baraat
Website www.sunnyjain.com

Sunny Jain (born 1975) is an American dhol player, drummer, and composer. He is recognized as a lead voice in the burgeoning movement of South Asian-American jazz musicians.[1] His seven albums have all received international acclaim for their "groundbreaking synthesis" (Coda Magazine), as he brings together the ancient sounds of his cultural heritage, America's greatest original art form and a host of other sounds.

Career

Jain has performed/recorded with Kiran Ahluwalia, Asphalt Orchestra, Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Marc Cary, Samir Chatterjee, DJ Rekha, Kyle Eastwood, Peter Gabriel, Grupo Fantasma, Norah Jones, Junoon, Andres Levin, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Marching Fourth Band, Q-Tip, Soul Rebels, Martha Wainwright, Kenny Wollesen, and Himanshu Suri.

Jain has been a recipient of composition and performance grants from the Aaron Copland Music Fund, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, globalFEST and received the Arts International Award in both 2005 and 2003 to enable touring India with his jazz group, Sunny Jain Collective. In 2002, Jain was designated a jazz ambassador by the U.S. Department of State and the Kennedy Center,[2] for which he toured West Africa. Jain is the author of two instructional drum books for Alfred Publishing: The Total Jazz Drummer[3] and Drum Atlas: India.[4][5]

In 2007 Jain became the first artist endorser for India's largest and oldest musical manufacturer, Bina Music.[6]

Red Baraat

In 2008, Jain founded the Brooklyn bhangra band Red Baraat.[7] In 2011 Red Baraat performed over 100 club shows and festivals across the world, including Bonnaroo Music Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, and a performance at the White House and the Paralympics closing ceremony in London.[8] The band consists of dhol, drums, percussion, sousaphone, and horns, melding North Indian rhythm of bhangra with funk, go-go, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and jazz.

The title track from their debut album, Chaal Baby, was used as the background music for commercials during the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. After the group's performance at the 2011 globalFEST, Red Baraat was a featured on PRI's The World, NPR's All Songs Considered, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Mother Jones magazine. The group's debut album was voted a top world music album of 2010 by The Boston Globe.[9] The group's 2011 album, Bootleg Bhangra, was recorded at Brooklyn's Southpaw concert on the band's second anniversary.

Red Baraat has performed 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.

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.[10] 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,[11] The Wall Street Journal,[12] The New Yorker,[13] Relix,[14] PopMatters,[15] and Songlines.

Junoon

Jain is also the drummer and dhol player for Junoon, the biggest rock band to emerge from South Asia. In 2011, they recorded the single "Open Your Eyes" featuring Peter Gabriel to raise awareness and funds for Pakistani flood victims. In 2010, Junoon delivered a Concert for Pakistan at the United Nations in NYC, for the displaced refugees in the Swat Valley.[16] The band closed out 2007 with a milestone performance at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway, playing for Nobel Laureates Al Gore and Rajendra Paucharia. Jain played dhol/percussion in the first Indian Broadway show, Bombay Dreams (2004) and made his Hollywood debut playing dhol in the movie The Accidental Husband,[17] starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, and Isabella Rossellini.

Discography

With Red Baraat

  • Chaal Baby (SinJ, 2010)
  • Bootleg Bhangra (SinJ, 2011)
  • Shruggy Ji (SinJ, 2013)
  • Bhangra Pirates (Rhyme & Reason, 2017)

As sideman

  • Asphalt Orchestra – Asphalt Orchestra (Cantaloupe, 2011)
  • Asphalt Orchestra – Asphalt Orchestra Plays Pixies (Cantaloupe, 2014)
  • Sheryl Bailey– Reunion of Souls (Pure Music, 2001)
  • Chris Bergson – Wait for Spring (Juniper, 2000)
  • Steve Blanco – Contact (2006)
  • Steve Blanco – Piano Warrior (2009)
  • Brooklyn Jazz Underground – Volume 1 (BJU, 2007)
  • Brooklyn Jazz Underground – Volume 2 (BJU, 2008)
  • Brooklyn Jazz Underground – Volume 3 (BJU, 2009)
  • Cucu Diamantes – Cucu Land (Fun Machine, 2010)
  • Hayes Greenfield – Music for a Green Planet (Dots and Lines, 2008)
  • J. C. Hopkins Biggish Band – Underneath a Brooklyn Moon (Tigerlily, 2005)
  • Junoon – Rock & Roll Jihad (Nameless Sufi, 2010)
  • Michael Leonhart – Seahorse and the Storyteller (Truth & Soul, 2010)
  • Sam Sadigursky – The Words Project (New Amsterdam, 2010)

Written works

  • Drum Atlas: India (Alfred Publishing)
  • The Total Jazz Drummer (Alfred Publishing)

References

  1. ↑ "Sunny Jain". Jazziz. December 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Sunny Jain". The Kennedy Center. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  3. ↑ Jain, Sunny (2007). The Total Jazz Drummer. Alfred Publishing. pp. 1–127. ISBN 9780739038529.
  4. ↑ Jain, Sunny (2009). Drum Atlas: India. Alfred Publishing. pp. 1–48. ISBN 9780739053003.
  5. ↑ "Sunny Jain". Alfred Music Publishing. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Sunny Jain". Vater Percussion. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  7. ↑ Boilen, Bob. "Bob Boilen's Favorite Live Shows of 2011". All Songs Considered. NPR. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  8. ↑ Iqbal, Nosheen (5 September 2012). "Red Baraat: Indian wedding sounds with attitude". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  9. ↑ Mitter, Siddhartha (19 December 2012). "Siddhartha Mitter's top 10 world music CDs of 2010". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "Red Baraat". Soundcheck. New York Public Radio. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  11. ↑ Dede, Mehmet (19 January 2010). "The Nat Geo Music Interview: Red Baraat". National Geographic. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  12. ↑ Catton, Pia (7 July 2010). "A Big Band for the World". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Goings on About Town". The New Yorker. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  14. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse (12 April 2010). "Red Baraat". Relix. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "Red Baraat perform at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on December 14, 2012". PopMatters. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  16. ↑ Concert for Pakistan @ The United Nations (part 1) on YouTube
  17. ↑ Sunny Jain on IMDb
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