Prasanna - Guitars/Vocals

'Prasanna plays guitar like nobody else on the planet’ – Allaboutjazz.com 
Prasanna’s recent Jimi Hendrix tribute CD ‘Electric Ganesha Land’ confirms that. From being the world’s most acclaimed performer of traditional Indian Classical Carnatic music on the guitar to extending that signature drawing from Jazz, Classical music, Rock and Blues, Prasanna has carved out a unique identity for himself. As one Jazz critic put it – “Talk about being able to identify a guy in three notes!” His 2004 CD ‘Be the Change’ features several Grammy Award winning artists. Prasanna has recorded over 14 albums and an instructional DVD as leader. Prasanna has performed and recorded with Joe Lovano, Victor Wooten, Larry Coryell, Aka Moon, Alphonso Johnson, A.R. Rahman, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Steve Smith, Illayaraja, Airto Moreira, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Shankar Mahadevan, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, Ralph Humphrey, Jeff Coffin and numerous others. Prasanna has received several prestigious international commissions as a composer for dance works in Australia, England, USA, India and other countries. He has performed at many of the world’s top Jazz and guitar festivals. Prasanna’s orchestration and arranging credits include the title score for the Oscar nominated Bollywood film ‘Lagaan’. His distinctive guitar work can also be heard on several multi-platinum Indian film soundtracks. He holds an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and an honors degree in music from Berklee College of Music. 

http://www.guitarprasanna.com 

Shalini - Vocals

Shalini is a versatile vocalist from India. Her distinctive vocal style involves elements of Carnatic music, Hindustani music, Jazz, Opera, Rock and more. Shalini had performed with several rock bands in India and has since performed and recorded extensively with husband Prasanna on several of his projects. She has performed with Prasanna, Jeff Coffin, Derico Watson, Kai Eckhardt, Marc Rossi, Rodney Holmes, Mike Pope and several other top level musicians. Shalini’s vocal talents are featured in such artistic projects as the upcoming French film soundtrack of ‘Essaye Moi’, the Australian contemporary dance production of the play ‘The Tempest’ and many others. 

Bill Vint - Tenor/ Soprano Saxophone/Flute

Acclaimed tenor saxophonist Bill Vint has earned a reputation as one of Boston's top saxophonists in the last few years. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music, where he studied woodwinds with such greats as Bill Pierce and Joe Viola, and was in many of the school’s most prestigious ensembles including Herb Pomeroy’s Concert Jazz Orchestra and the Thelonious Monk Ensemble. Since then, Bill has performed with such major artists as Aretha Frankin, the Temptations, the Ojays, Bobby Caldwell, Joe Zawinal, Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Abercrombie, Steve Marcus, Mike Stern, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey and others. He has performed with various groups at the Montreaux, Nice, Monterey, and North Sea Jazz Festivals. Currently Bill is a member of Stardust, one of New England's top function bands and teaches woodwinds at Brown University and in the Milton public schools. 

Matt Marvuglio - Flute/EWI

"Virtuoso Flute Playing..."Edward Kane, Jazzreview.com 
Matt Marvuglio is a versatile flute player in both Jazz and Classical music. He is one of the most respected woodwind players in Boston. Matt started out playing clarinet when he was 8 years old and went on to play saxophone along with flute for many years before embarking on a full-fledged career as a flute player. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in Composition, Matt attended the Boston Conservatory for a while before doing freelance work with orchestras playing at the Schubert and Colonial theatres in Boston regularly. Matt started teaching at Berklee College of Music soon after. He has performed at festivals and concert venues around the world and his CD "Why Cry" has received great reviews from the Jazz Press. Matt is currently the Dean of the Professional Performance Division at Berklee College of Music. 

http://www.mattmarvuglio.com 

Steve Hunt - keyboards

Keyboardist Steve Hunt is widely acknowledged as one of the top virtuoso keyboard players of America in the Jazz/Fusion world. Steve’s performing and recording credits include such luminaries as Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham, Angela Bolfill, Kenny G, Alan Holdsworth, Tiger Okoshi, Freddy Hubbard, Gato Barbieri, Stanley Turentine and numerous others. Steve’s international touring took him to countries such as Japan, Israel, Austria, France, England, Italy, Sweden, Argentina, and Australia, as well as major cities in the US and Canada. Steve has released numerous CDs as a leader and has been a long time member of Alan Holdsworth’s band, the Mahavishnu Project and other outfits. Steve is on the faculty of Berklee College of Music. 

http://www.stevehuntjazz.com/ 

Bill Urmson - Bass

Bassist Bill Urmson is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, and has studied with bassists Miroslav Vitous and Jeff Berlin, guitarist Mick Goodrick, and saxaphonist Jerry Bergonzi. Over the last 25 years Bill has toured the US, Europe and Japan, appearing and recording with artists such as George Russell, The Gil Evans Monday Night Orchestra, Brian Ales, Rich Shemaria, Michael Gibbs, Roland Vazquez, Steve Slagle, Gil Goldstein, Tiger Okoshi, Steve Tavaglione, T. Lavitz, Billy Ward and Ian Wallace. In the 1990’s, he co-led the critically acclaimed Los Angeles-based group, Dark Horses with guitarist Barry Coates and drummers David Derge and Michael Barsimanto. 

Kenwood Dennard - Drums

Kenwood Dennard has been one of the most prolific drummers in the world in the last few decades. His performing and recording credits include a veritable who's who of some of the greatest artists in modern music

including Jazz legends such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Smith, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, George Benson, Bobby McFerrin, Quincy Jones, Joe Zawinul, Diane Reeves, Kenny Baron, John Mclaughlin, Jaco Pastorius etc, pop/ R&B superstars such as Sting, Whitney Houston, Vanessa Williams, Luther Vandross, Geroge Clinton (P-Funk), Peaches and Herb etc to Salsa stars like Tito Puente and with classical orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In his solo works, Kenwood unleashes his superlative performance abilities that combine playing hard grooving drums, keyboards and singing simultaneously. Kenwood toured with Prasanna in India in Jan 2000. He is currently Associate Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music.

http://www.kenwooddennard.com

Prasanna concert Program Notes

Prasanna – guitar/vocals
Shalini – vocals
Matt Marvuglio – flute
Bill Vint – tenor/soprano saxophones/flute
Steve Hunt – keyboards
Bill Urmson – bass
Kenwood Dennard – drums

Invocation

It is customary to start any Indian concert with an invocation to Ganesha, the ‘Lord of Beginnings’ or Saraswathi, the Goddess of knowledge. The invocation could be a composition or a Raga based improvisation. Today’s invocation will be an innovative exposition of the auspicious Raga ‘Hamsadwani’ on the guitar with harmonic accompaniment on the keyboards.

Buddha’s Night Out

This is an extended suite that blends elements of various modern musical styles such as Drum n’ Bass, Rock, Jazz and Avant-garde Classical music with a touch of traditional Indian Carnatic music, all set to fast-paced rhythms. ‘Buddha’s Night out’ is written specially for this concert and will receive its world premiere here.

Blues for Saraswathi

This is a contemporary blend of Blues and Reggae that feature two traditional Indian Classical Carnatic Ragas ‘Hamsadwani’ and ‘Hamsanandhi’, garnished with elements of modern Jazz. Many of the rhythmic ideas used in this composition are based on mathematical structures common to Carnatic music. The melody of Ravel’s composition ‘Bolero’, probably the most well known piece of twentieth century classical music is quoted here to give this piece a unique multi-cultural sheen.

Tribute to Bollywood – Past, Present and Future

This exciting medley of four immensely popular songs from Indian film and popular music has been specially arranged for this evening to celebrate the vitality of Indian film music and its contributions to the global music world. The songs chosen for the program are Prasanna’s rearrangements of compositions by seminal Indian film composers Shankar-Jaikishen, R.D. Burman, Illayaraja and A.R. Rahman.

Ta ka Ta ki Ta Blues

This composition is based on a standard but a rather twisted Blues form peppered with rhythms and vocal percussion elements derived from Carnatic music. This hard rocking composition has contrasting sections of Jazz Swing that keeps the listener guessing what’s going to happen next.

Distant

‘Distant’ is a pop ballad with wordless scat singing that combines elements of Brazilian music and Jazz in a Classical Opera/Aria style of singing against a Pop-Rock style arrangement. The unmistakably Indian sounding ‘Bridge’ section is based on the popular Indian Raga ‘Keeravani’ sung with Indian Solfege (Sa Ri Ga etc) against a Jazz/Rock groove creates a wonderful contrast to the other sections.

Shankarasta

This composition features a theme based on the traditional Carnatic Raga ‘Sankarabharanam’ and is sung in Indian Solfege (Sa Ri Ga etc) with the band playing a twisted Reggae behind the vocalist. The song is journey into different worlds as elements of Jazz and Rock peep in unannounced at the most unlikely places. The “Bridge” section of the song features the Carnatic Raga ‘Shanmukhapriya’ which creates an interesting mood shift as the song progresses.

31

‘31’ is a fun composition that much like ‘Buddha’s Night Out’, goes all out journeying into various musical styles like Carnatic, Drum n’Bass, Funk, Rock, Jazz and Brazilian music creating an ever changing musical mosaic. The composition is anchored in the popular Carnatic Raga ‘Abheri’ which is also familiar to Hindustani music listeners as Raga ‘Bhimplasi’, but the wild rollercoaster ride is closer to a ‘New World Musical Keiretsu’ than any specific genre of music.