An Ode to Jazz Divas

ARJUN CHAKRABORTY - Arjun is 18 years old and was crowned the state level champion at the age of 15,currently he won a national championship and got to represent his country on an international level(drum off India). Currently standing as a national champion and being among the top 5s nationally from young artiste of the year 2020.He also got recently endorsed by a cymbal brand known popularly as tonum cymbals.Arjun was also featured on jazz in india.He has played with several bands and local artists and various festivals,TV shows and is a part of some of them currently too,he has a very healthy student line and is a teacher as well.He has been performing at SA RE GA MA PA for the past couple of years.This year he had got the chance of performing with Sivamani,Rd burman's trumpet player to name a few. Arjun was also selected recently for the people's choice award from young artiste of the year itself.Arjun has been studying under Bihu Mukherjee for the past 3 years. Outside of that he has been performing in the local pub scene for a long time.He has performed and had permanent artist residencies at durgapur Holiday Inn.

EMMANUEL SIMON - Emmanuel Simon, initially trained as a Western classical pianist, is nowadays a professional percussionist and a versatile musician, having gathered over the years extensive knowledge, both practical and academic, in classical and contemporary Western music as well as in Latin, West-African and Indian Classical music fields. Settled in India since 2011, as a session musician and band leader of the Latin-jazz band The Latination, he has collaborated with many different artists for studio and TV recordings as well as live performances and toured all over India and South Asia in many prestigious auditoriums and festivals. He is currently a full-time faculty and professor at School of Performing Arts, NMIMS University, Mumbai.

JARRYD RODRIGUEZ - Jarryd Rodrigues is a Goan saxophonist, now based in Mumbai, India. His teacher and mentor is the legendary jazz saxophonist, Braz Gonsalves, who is also his grandfather. His grandmother is the famous jazz singer Yvonne Gonsalves and his great-grandfather is the legendary Anthony Vaz aka Chic Chocolate. Jarryd specialises in different styles of jazz music:  ranging from swing, blues and ballads, to funk, bebop, Afro, Brazilian and so on. Jarryd has played alongside many musicians/setups across the country like: Louis Banks, Gino Banks, Anurag Naidu, Shirish Malhotra, Japanese drummer Ko Omura, UK trumpet player Johnny Woodham, The Many Roots Ensemble, Yung.Raj Live, Easy Wanderlings, Bombay Brass, The Coffee Cats, etc. He has also played at numerous music festivals, namely: NH7 Weekender (Pune), Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa), Echoes of Earth Festival (Bangalore), Kala Ghoda Arts Festival(Mumbai) and Luna Music Festival (Sri Lanka). In the summer of 2022, he along with his grandparents, Braz and Yvonne, played at the Hot Club de Portugal (Lisbon, Portugal) on International Jazz Day ’22.

SHREYA BHATTACHARYA - Shreya Bhattacharya is a vocalist from Kolkata who has moved and is best known for her approach in singing. She has been awarded a full ride scholarship from the prestigious college Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in western contemporary music. She trained herself under Natalie John(NY) and Veronica Nunes(Brazil) and also learnt under Carolina Calvache(NY), Karina Colis(Mexico), Parker McAllister(Brooklyn) and Steve Zerlin(Washington DC). She has toured with her setup and performed in festivals like Colombo Jazz Festival, Hyderabad Jazz Festival, Galle Literary Jazz Festival, Great India Story, Madras Jazz Festival and is recognised amongst the industry for her eclectic singing style. She is known to have also performed alongside stalwarts like Louis Bankz, Ranjit Barot and has collaborated with Darshan Doshi, Rhythm Shaw. Shreya is also passionate about teaching and has been teaching vocals at the NMIMS School of Performing Arts, Mumbai and also has been coaching many Bollywood artists such as Kanika Kapoor, Devendra(Coke Studio Singer), Rajan Batra(Yellow Diaries), Dino James, Gurashish Singh(YouTube star). Other than teaching she is also involved in multiple recording projects like singing jingles, voice production, and multiple Bollywood projects touring alongside Kanika Kapoor. With her own setup MODCULT, she is currently experimenting with multiple sounds and has an album making in the pipeline.

AVISHEK DEY - the founder/frontman of Modcult is a bassist,composer and an educator from Calcutta. He has been playing in the Indian live circuit for the past 15 years and is a full ride scholar from the prestigious Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music. Known for his prodigious dexterity in the instrument Avishek Dey is trained under some of the internationally proclaimed giants from the global music fraternity like Garry Willis, Christian Galvez, Ric Fierabracci, Mathew Garrison, Parker McAllister, Steve Zerlin. He is an expert in interpreting genres such as Jazz, RnB, Soul, Gospel, Funk, Jazz Fusion, Garage, Broken-beat, Nu-Funk, Be-Bop, Contemporary Jazz. Avishek has collaborated with various international acts such as Yuchiro Tokuda (Japan), Erick Truffaz (Germany), Anthony Cammarota (USA), Aron Nyiro (Hungary), Jim Porto (Brazil), Ricardo Vogt (Brazil) and many others. He is currently educating an extensive number of talented bass players with an aim to setting up a base in the Indian music community and is also a professor at the NMIMS School of Performing Arts, Mumbai. Currently in addition to playing with his own setup, Avishek also leads a Bollywood Jazz project known as The Bombay Kollective - known for his unique reharms and rearrangements of bollywood classics in jazz format best known by many in exclusive weddings and corporate world. He actively plays alongside the stalwarts of jazz from the Indian music scene such as Sir Louis Banks, Gino Banks, Sir Ranjit Barot and has recently played a debut making history at the iconic "COACHELLA" festival at LA alongside Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh and is also known as the finest purveyor of low ends in the world of session music.

CLEMENT ROONEY - Originally a classically trained pianist, Clement Rooney has performed music for all his life. Hailing from London, he moved to Mumbai in 2018, to head the piano department at the university level. He covers all styles of western music including: Jazz, Pop, Bolly-Jazz, RnB, Soul & Latin. Clement is a highly sought after musician, whose versatility allows him to shine in a wide range of musical environments. He is active in the Indian music scene and performs regularly accompanying some of India's top singers. Clement has over a decade of experience setting the tone for cocktail events, special occasions and distinguished Hotels in and around London, Amsterdam and Mumbai.

AMANDEEP SINGH - Amandeep Singh Soni born and raised in Mumbai is a guitar player, composer & a singer is known for his unique sound and his modern approach in the instrument. His interpretation in playing all genres of music with sheer dexterity had him score a diploma in music from the prestigious Swarnabhoomi of Music, Chennai. He has also studied under guitar players such as Sanjay Divecha. And has performed as a part in several live Bollywood acts such as Diljit Dosanjh, Ananya Birla, Divya Kumar, Vishal Shaker, Colonial Cousins and many more. He actively works as a session guitarist and has played on various feature films like ‘Gully Boy’ and has worked on many commercial adverts.

ROBIN BENJAMIN FARGOSEStarted his stage performances in 2006 with Piano and Trumpet; travelling many countries like USA, Singapore, Gulf, UK amongst many. He has performed with well-known playback singers like Asha ji Bhosle, Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Shaun, Arijit Singh, Mohit Chauhan and others. And also playing for Bollywood movies scores.Completed his Grade 4 in theory and practical from Trinity Board of London after completing his Bachelor of Arts from Mumbai university.

Shirish Malhotra is one of India's most sought-after jazz multi- Instrumentalists. With over 25 years of experience, he has mastered Instruments like Violin, Clarinet, Saxophone, Flute, Guitar, Charango And Duduk. Shirish has performed in over 30 countries with leading artists like Arijit Singh, Atif Aslam, Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Ehsan Loy, Pritam, Rizwan and Muazzam, Pandit Zakir Hussain, Sanjay Divecha, Louiz Banks, Mikey McCleary and many more. Having played in the prestigious Bombay Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of India, Shirish won the OJCF Young Musician of the Year Award in 2015. His musicianship also led him to qualify as a scholarship student at Trinity Laban Conservatoire London. Additionally, Shirish has performed in shows like Coke Studio @ MTV, Satyamev Jayate and MTV Unplugged, along with his musical contribution to movies like Gangs of Wasseypur, Agent Vinod, Ludo, Madras Cafe, Chhichhore and more.