George Brooks Quintet w special guest Roopa Mahadevan

George Brooks is a prolific and diverse saxophonist and composer, acclaimed for successfully bridging the worlds of jazz and Indian classical music. He is the founder of Indian fusion groups Summit with Zakir Hussain, Steve Smith, Kai Eckhardt and Fareed Haque; Bombay Jazz with Larry Coryell and Ronu Majumdar; the Raga Bop Trio with Steve Smith and Carnatic guitarist Prasanna and Elements with Indian violinist Kala Ramnath and Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink.

Brooks began his study of jazz with Count Basie saxophonist, Frank Foster and continued at the New England Conservatory of Music, with George Russell, Joe Allard and Jaki Byard. While attending the Conservatory, Brooks was introduced to Indian classical music and became entranced by its melodic beauty, rhythmic complexity and deep spiritual core. After graduating, Brooks traveled to India where he met master vocalist Pandit Pran Nath, the giant of north Indian music who deeply influenced pioneering composers LaMonte Young and Terry Riley. Brooks immersed himself in study with Pran Nath, cooking and caring for his “Guruji”, in exchange for knowledge. This is the traditional Indian style of learning known as “guru-shishya parampara”.

Returning from India, Brooks settled in California and began his long association with pianist Terry Riley. For the past thirty years they have performed throughout Europe, the US and Asia as a duo, in trio settings with sitarist Krishna Bhatt and with a variety of larger ensembles. While touring with Riley and developing his unique voice as an artist, Brooks also became a mainstay of the Bay Area blues scene, arranging and leading horn sections for Sonny Rhodes, Frankie Lee, Albert Collins and Johnny Taylor and touring internationally with R+B icon Etta James.

For this event, he brings together jazz greats from the Bay Area: Frank Martin, Kai Eckhardt and Roopa Mahadevan

Host or Publisher Bay Area Jazz & Arts, Inc