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Jerry Leake
Jerry Leake is co-founder of the acclaimed world-music ensemble Natraj, whose four recordings feature his diverse percussion talents. He also co-founded and performs with Club d'Elf, R.A.R.E, Moksha, BodyGrooves, Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, and the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society. He is featured on dozens of CDs and has released several CDs of his own music. On tabla, he has accompanied Ali Akbar Khan, Steve Gorn, Sharafat Ali Khan, Kumkum Sanyal, Chitravena Ravikiran, Peter Row, Purnima Sen, Shyamdas, and kathak dancer Gretchen Hayden.
He has toured with Persian masters, Shahram and Hafez Nazeri wityh features on CNN Live; ongoing performances and tours with flamenco virtuoso, Juanito Pascual; with his band Natraj: JazzYatra, Bombay, India; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; Lake George Jazz Weekend, NY; PANAFEST, Accra and Cape Coast, Ghana; Oberlin College, OH; Prayojana Festival, Bangalore and Chennai, India; India- 50 Celebration, Hatch Shell, MA; Guelph Jazz Festival, ON; New Year's Portland ME; Festival of Black Music, MA; Saranac Lake Concerts, NY; U. of Texas, TX; Portsmouth Jazz Weekend, NH; Tsai Performance Center, MA; CB's 313 Gallery, NY; Asian American Creative Music Festival, MA; CAV, RI; Institute of Technology, MA; Musikfest, PA; First Night, MA; Boston Globe Jazz Festival, MA; Community Arts Series, MA; Academy of Indian Performing Arts; MA; Anthony's Southside, PA; Norwood Village Green Concerts, NY; Cambridge River Festival, MA; L/A Arts, ME; First Night Hartford, CT; Regattabar Jazz Festival, MA; Waterfront Park Concert Series, MA; Columbia University, NY; Moses Greeley Parker Concert Series, MA; Peabody Essex Museum, MA; Bowdoin College, ME; Berklee Performance Center, MA; MIT Kresge Auditorium w/Hands On'Semble, MA; Jacob's Pillow, MA; Omega Institute with Shyamdas (kirtan); Jordan Hall, MA; Jothi Raghavan's Karnatak Theater Company, MA; Cultural Constructions, MA; David Maxwell Ensemble; Bob Moses; George Schuller; Les Miserables Brass Band, MA; Natalie Twigg Arts Foundation, MO; solo performance: Live Music Week, Emerson College Radio (WERS), MA; With Club d'Elf: performances with John Medesky, Hassan Hakmoun, Mat Maneri, Brahim Fribgane, Bob Moses, Dave Tronzo, Duke Levine, Randy Roos, Gerry Leonard, Kenwood Denard.
Jerry graduated from the Berklee College of Music where he studied jazz vibraphone with Gary Burton and hand percussion with Pablo Landrum. He studied tabla in Pune, India with Rajiv Devasthali, and studies in Boston with Todd Nardin and Koashal Anand. In Chennai, India, Jerry studied Karnatic rhythm theory and mridangam with T. K. Ramakrishnan. He continues to study African music with Dolsi-Naa Abubakari Luna of the Dagomba tradition (northern Ghana) and has studied Ewe music (southern Ghana) with Godwin Agbeli and David Locke, and balafon/djembe with the Coulibaly family in Burkina Faso. He has written eight widely used texts on North Indian, West African, Latin American percussion, and rhythm theory.
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Club d'Elf: As Above - Live At The Lizard Lounge
by Doug Collette
The music of Club d'Elf's debut album, As Above, speaks volumes in terms of the group's mystical and stylistic roots. In fact, it is perfectly reflective of the actual ancient quote from which the title is taken; 'As above, so below...' suggests how the rhythm motifs are as fully and completely developed as the melodic themes. Recorded in 1999 and 2000, at the Lizard Lounge in Boston, which has become Mike Rivard and company's home base over the ...
read moreClub d'Elf: As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge
by AAJ Staff
The groove runs deep and long on As Above, a 2-disc set from Club d'Elf. Voyaging through realms of electronica, ethnic percussion, and dirty funk, As Above pays exquisite attention to the beat. The two-plus hours of collected music on this set document the highlights of five months' worth of live improv at Boston's Lizard Lounge. (OK, so it's actually in Cambridge, but what's a hop across the river in the grand scheme of things?) Ringleader (bassist) Mike Rivard hosts ...
read moreThe Layers of Master Percussionist Jerry Leake Emerge on "Cubist"
Source:
Michael Ricci
Jerry Leake produced his new album like a mad rhythm scientist. He was methodic and resourceful, precisely mixing and pouring one ingredient into the next. It could have ended in disaster with sonic fragments left strewn about haplesslybut it did not. Cubist (Rhombus Publishing; Jan 1, 2010) comes to life with mathematical precision and beauty where each composition resounds its exclusive musical “soul." Cubist reflects and retracts not only music but also people and their experiences. “You can almost feel ...
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Cubist is without doubt one of the finest records to arrive in early 2010! KIOS 91.5, The Last Call
Fascinating compositions... Creative and energetic with a world music flavor. WRUV Reviews, World International
Cubist breathes life into classic themes, and its rhythms call to the listener's entire body. A treasury for percussion fans. Midwest Book & Music Review
When I first heard selected tracks, I wanted to continue listening to each one as soon as it had finished, which is a great start with any collection. Derek Walker, Phantom Toollboth
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Left Hand of Clyde (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
From: As Above - Live At The Lizard...By Jerry Leake
