Sunny Jain
Encyclopedia
Voted as a rising star percussionist in the 2011 Downbeat magazine critics poll, Sunny Jain is a highly respected drummer, dhol player and composer. He leads the pioneering 9-piece Brooklyn Bhangra Funk party band, Red Baraat, and his Sunny Jain Collective has been touted as a lead voice for the burgeoning Indo Jazz. Recently, Jain recorded “Open Your Eyes” by Salman Ahmad of the famed Pakistani rock group Junoon, featuring Peter Gabriel. In 2010, his Taboo and Chaal Baby CD’s were chosen by critics as top jazz and world music releases. Jain carries a long list of credits as a jazz drummer/composer for his groundbreaking synthesis of Indian music and jazz/world. He's been featured in Downbeat magazine, Jazztimes, Jazz Hot (France), Jazziz, and Traps magazine. Sunny has received commissions by the Aaron Copland Music Fund and Chamber Music America and was a recipient of the Arts International Award in both 2005 and 2003. He played dhol in the first ever Indian Broadway show, Bombay Dreams (2004) and made his Hollywood debut playing dhol in the movie, Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, and Isabella Rossellini. Sunny was designated a Jazz Ambassador by the U.S. Department of State and The Kennedy Center in 2002. He is also the author of 2 instructional drum books for Alfred Publishing (The Total Jazz Drummer and Drum Atlas: India). http://www.sunnyjain.com/
Jain most recently recorded Open Your Eyes by Salman Ahmad
of the famed sufi-rock group Junoon, which also features Peter Gabriel, and Two Ships by David Byrne and Annie Clark, which features both Byrne and Clark along with the Asphalt Orchestra. He is currently preparing to record Shruggy Ji, the 2nd album to come from Red Baraat, the 9-piece Bhangra Funk band he founded in 2008.
Sunny Jain is recognized as a lead voice in an emerging movement of South Asian-American jazz musicians who bring together America’s greatest original art form and the ancient sounds of their cultural heritage. Steeped in the jazz tradition since the age of 12, Jain’s 6 CD releases (As Is, Mango Festival, Avaaz, Chaal Baby, Taboo, Bootleg Bhangra) have received international acclaim for their “groundbreaking synthesis” (Coda Magazine). His latest release, Taboo (BJUR 2010), Jain “stakes out singular turf in this 21st Century world of cross-pollinating musical traditions" (Signal to Noise). Jain draws inspiration from the musical sensibilities of modern India, as well as its ancient classical forms. His Punjabi roots and appreciation for Bollywood classics are audible in his work and Indian dance rhythms find resonance with the syncopated jazz canon. His influences go further from drum & bass to progressive rock, to Brazilian and West African rhythms.
In addition to drumset, Jain plays the indigenous drum of Punjab, dhol, a double-sided, barrel-shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder played with bamboo sticks. On dhol, he leads Red Baraat, a unique dhol 'n' brass band melding the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with brass funk and expressing the human spirit through improvisation and an explosive stage performance. Red Baraat was featured in National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix, Songlines, Indian Express and multiple other publications in 2009-10. "Red Baraat has been one of the New York music scene's best-kept secrets” (National Geographic). Jain made his professional debut as a dholi playing in the first ever Indian Broadway show, Bombay Dreams (2004). He has since gone on to perform with Masala Bhangra fitness guru, Sarina Jain (“The Indian Jane Fonda”), jazz legend Dewey Redman with Asha Puthli, and Cucu Diamantes of the Latin Funk band, Yerba Buena. Jain made his Hollywood debut playing dhol in the movie, Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Isabella Rossellini.
Jain also is an accomplished composer and was profiled in Downbeat magazine (November 2009) for his unique blending of Indian music with jazz/world. He has written over 40 original works and composed the background music for Sarina Jain's Masala Bhangra DVD's, Volumes 7 & 8. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Aaron Copland Fund to record Taboo, after being commissioned in 2006 by Chamber Music America to compose the new works.
Jain closed out 2007 with a milestone performance with the famed Sufi-rock group Junoon at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway, playing for Al Gore. In 2006, Traps magazine highlighted Sunny as a top New York City world jazz drummers, following on the heels of a feature in Jazz Hot magazine (France), in which he was noted as a rising star for his fusion of jazz and Indian music. Sunny received the Arts International Award in both 2003 and 2005 and in 2002, he was designated a Jazz Ambassador by the U.S. Department of State and The Kennedy Center.
Jain has performed/recorded with Rez Abbasi, Kiran Ahluwalia, Asphalt Orchestra, Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Seamus Blake, David Byrne, Marc Cary, Samir Chatterjee, Cucu Diamantes, Kyle Eastwood, Peter Gabriel, Norah Jones, Junoon, Andres Levin, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Donny McCaslin, Q-Tip, St. Vincent (Annie Clark), Martha Wainwright, Kenny Wollesen, and many others.
Jain is also a respected educator with multiple appearances in high schools and universities leading workshops and masterclasses on drumming, Indian rhythmic concepts, and music business. He is the author of 2 instructional drum books released through Alfred Publishing. Jain is on faculty at Horace Mann and holds an M.A. in Music Business from New York University and a B.M. in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University.
It’s a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at Lincoln Center. Or the Montreal Jazz Festival. Or the Barbican. It’s a band unquestionably on the ascent playing some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres worldwide, and keeping their chops razor sharp in basements and sweaty sold out clubs across New York City. Leading an audience as diverse and joyful as the band itself, Red Baraat has subsumed a plateful of global influence, fused it, and is now exporting it Brooklyn-style to the world.
The group's most recent release, BOOTLEG BHANGRA, is the band’s incredibly powerful live show captured at Brooklyn’s Southpaw on the band’s second anniversary. With songs pulled primarily from their debut album, CHAAL BABY, the group was mindful of the challenge to capture a rapturous live sound on record. Well, it happened on this night, and the resulting document places you squarely in that small Brooklyn club jammed from front to back with hip shaking beauties - hands raised to a ceiling dripping with condensation. The band is currently at work on their 2nd studio date, SHRUGGY JI, which should see release in early 2012.
Most recently, the title track, Chaal Baby, is being used as the background music for the promo ads for the hit FX TV show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. After the group’s performance at the 2011 globalFEST, Red Baraat was a top pick favorite and featured on PRI’s The World, NPR’s All Songs Considered, New York Times, The Village Voice and Mother Jones magazine. The group's debut CD, CHAAL BABY (Sinj Records) was voted by several music critics as a top world and jazz release of 2010. Since their inception in October 2008, Red Baraat has delivered blistering performances 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, among many others. 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. 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, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix and Songlines, among many others.
Music Career
From the resounding hall of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, to the intimate setting of Smalls Jazz Club in New York City, to the massive applause on festival stages in India, Sunny Jain is an innovative drummer, composer and dhol player. Born to Punjabi immigrant parents and raised in Rochester, New York, Jain is an Indian-American musical trailblazer.Jain most recently recorded Open Your Eyes by Salman Ahmad
Salman Ahmad
Salman Ahmad is a Pakistani musician and former actor, who used to be a member of Vital Signs but left after their debut album due to creative differences. He went on to form Junoon, South Asia's biggest and longest-lasting rock band. While still enjoying the success of Junoon, he was involved in...
of the famed sufi-rock group Junoon, which also features Peter Gabriel, and Two Ships by David Byrne and Annie Clark, which features both Byrne and Clark along with the Asphalt Orchestra. He is currently preparing to record Shruggy Ji, the 2nd album to come from Red Baraat, the 9-piece Bhangra Funk band he founded in 2008.
Sunny Jain is recognized as a lead voice in an emerging movement of South Asian-American jazz musicians who bring together America’s greatest original art form and the ancient sounds of their cultural heritage. Steeped in the jazz tradition since the age of 12, Jain’s 6 CD releases (As Is, Mango Festival, Avaaz, Chaal Baby, Taboo, Bootleg Bhangra) have received international acclaim for their “groundbreaking synthesis” (Coda Magazine). His latest release, Taboo (BJUR 2010), Jain “stakes out singular turf in this 21st Century world of cross-pollinating musical traditions" (Signal to Noise). Jain draws inspiration from the musical sensibilities of modern India, as well as its ancient classical forms. His Punjabi roots and appreciation for Bollywood classics are audible in his work and Indian dance rhythms find resonance with the syncopated jazz canon. His influences go further from drum & bass to progressive rock, to Brazilian and West African rhythms.
In addition to drumset, Jain plays the indigenous drum of Punjab, dhol, a double-sided, barrel-shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder played with bamboo sticks. On dhol, he leads Red Baraat, a unique dhol 'n' brass band melding the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with brass funk and expressing the human spirit through improvisation and an explosive stage performance. Red Baraat was featured in National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix, Songlines, Indian Express and multiple other publications in 2009-10. "Red Baraat has been one of the New York music scene's best-kept secrets” (National Geographic). Jain made his professional debut as a dholi playing in the first ever Indian Broadway show, Bombay Dreams (2004). He has since gone on to perform with Masala Bhangra fitness guru, Sarina Jain (“The Indian Jane Fonda”), jazz legend Dewey Redman with Asha Puthli, and Cucu Diamantes of the Latin Funk band, Yerba Buena. Jain made his Hollywood debut playing dhol in the movie, Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Isabella Rossellini.
Jain also is an accomplished composer and was profiled in Downbeat magazine (November 2009) for his unique blending of Indian music with jazz/world. He has written over 40 original works and composed the background music for Sarina Jain's Masala Bhangra DVD's, Volumes 7 & 8. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Aaron Copland Fund to record Taboo, after being commissioned in 2006 by Chamber Music America to compose the new works.
Jain closed out 2007 with a milestone performance with the famed Sufi-rock group Junoon at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway, playing for Al Gore. In 2006, Traps magazine highlighted Sunny as a top New York City world jazz drummers, following on the heels of a feature in Jazz Hot magazine (France), in which he was noted as a rising star for his fusion of jazz and Indian music. Sunny received the Arts International Award in both 2003 and 2005 and in 2002, he was designated a Jazz Ambassador by the U.S. Department of State and The Kennedy Center.
Jain has performed/recorded with Rez Abbasi, Kiran Ahluwalia, Asphalt Orchestra, Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Seamus Blake, David Byrne, Marc Cary, Samir Chatterjee, Cucu Diamantes, Kyle Eastwood, Peter Gabriel, Norah Jones, Junoon, Andres Levin, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Donny McCaslin, Q-Tip, St. Vincent (Annie Clark), Martha Wainwright, Kenny Wollesen, and many others.
Jain is also a respected educator with multiple appearances in high schools and universities leading workshops and masterclasses on drumming, Indian rhythmic concepts, and music business. He is the author of 2 instructional drum books released through Alfred Publishing. Jain is on faculty at Horace Mann and holds an M.A. in Music Business from New York University and a B.M. in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University.
Red Baraat
In just three short years, the pioneering Brooklyn dhol 'n' brass party juggernaut RED BARAAT have made a name for themselves as one of the best live bands playing anywhere in the world. Led by dhol drummer Sunny Jain, the nine piece, composed of dhol (double-sided barrel shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder), drumset, percussion, a sousaphone, and 5 horns melds the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with a host of sounds, namely funk, go-go, latin, and jazz. Simply put, Sunny Jain and Red Baraat have created and defined a sound entirely their own.It’s a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at Lincoln Center. Or the Montreal Jazz Festival. Or the Barbican. It’s a band unquestionably on the ascent playing some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres worldwide, and keeping their chops razor sharp in basements and sweaty sold out clubs across New York City. Leading an audience as diverse and joyful as the band itself, Red Baraat has subsumed a plateful of global influence, fused it, and is now exporting it Brooklyn-style to the world.
The group's most recent release, BOOTLEG BHANGRA, is the band’s incredibly powerful live show captured at Brooklyn’s Southpaw on the band’s second anniversary. With songs pulled primarily from their debut album, CHAAL BABY, the group was mindful of the challenge to capture a rapturous live sound on record. Well, it happened on this night, and the resulting document places you squarely in that small Brooklyn club jammed from front to back with hip shaking beauties - hands raised to a ceiling dripping with condensation. The band is currently at work on their 2nd studio date, SHRUGGY JI, which should see release in early 2012.
Most recently, the title track, Chaal Baby, is being used as the background music for the promo ads for the hit FX TV show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. After the group’s performance at the 2011 globalFEST, Red Baraat was a top pick favorite and featured on PRI’s The World, NPR’s All Songs Considered, New York Times, The Village Voice and Mother Jones magazine. The group's debut CD, CHAAL BABY (Sinj Records) was voted by several music critics as a top world and jazz release of 2010. Since their inception in October 2008, Red Baraat has delivered blistering performances 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, among many others. 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. 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, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix and Songlines, among many others.
Recorded Works
- Red Baraat - Bootleg Bhangra (SinJ Records 2011)
- Sunny Jain - Taboo (Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records 2010)
- Red Baraat - Chaal Baby (SinJ Records 2010; Jaro Records 2012 [Europe])
- Sunny Jain Collective - Avaaz (SinJ Records 2006)
- Sunny Jain Collective - Mango Festival (ZoHo Music 2006)
- Sunny Jain Collective - As Is (NCM East Records 2002)
- Asphalt Orchestra (Canteloupe Music 2010)
- Junoon - Rock & Roll Jihad (Nameless Sufi Music 2010)
- Michael Leonhart - Seahorse & The Storyteller (Truth & Soul 2010)
- Cucu Diamantes - Cucu Land (Fun Machine 2010)
- Sam Sadigursky - The Words Project (New Amsterdam 2010)
- Sarina Jain - The Masala Bhangra Workout DVD (2010)
- Steve Blanco Trio - Piano Warrior (Art of Life Records 2009)
- Brooklyn Jazz Underground - Volume 3 (BJU Records 2009)
- Hayes Greenfield - Music For a Green Planet (Dots and Lines 2008)
- Brooklyn Jazz Underground - Volume 2 (BJU Records 2008)
- Brooklyn Jazz Underground - Volume 1 (BJU Records 2007)
- Kaash - Seep (SinJ Records 2006)
- Steve Blanco Trio - Contact (Insomnia Creations 2006)
- JC Hopkins Biggish Band - Underneath A Brooklyn Moon (Tigerlily Records 2005)
- David Cook - Green (Independent 2002)
- Sheryl Bailey Quartet - Reunion of Souls (Pure Music Records 2001)
- Chris Bergson Trio - Wait For Spring (Juniper Records 2000)
- Propulsive - Massive Grooves (Blue Raven Records 2000)