$20 Cover @ the Door / Start 2:30pm / Doors 2pm
Piandia is a duo consisting of Berklee professors and old friends John Funkhouser (piano) and Jerry Leake (tabla). Funkhouser and Leake team up to delve into the ancient tradition of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. Deeply soulful and spiritually uplifting ragas are woven together with energetic and intricate rhythms and virtuosic improvisation. “Musically, we start with a seed, and attempt to grow a tree,” explains Funkhouser. “We take our time and let the music gradually evolve and build, riding the wave from a peaceful meditation to a vibrant rhythmic crest, merging back into the sea.”
John Funkhouser, piano
Pianist, bassist, composer and educator John Funkhouser has shared the stage with Joe Lovano, Steve Gadd, Charles Neville, Bobby Watson, Esperanca Spalding, Luciana Souza, Tierney Sutton, Geri Allen, Francisco Mela, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Matt Savage. He has played on over 80 CD and video recordings, including five as leader. Funkhouser has performed at clubs and festivals all over the world, including the Blue Note, Birdland, and Dizzy’s in New York City, as well as the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, the Toulon Jazz Festival, and the Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival. He has toured extensively in North and Central America, as well as Europe, Southeast Asia, and South Africa. He has appeared on ABC’s “20/20,” NBC’s “Today Show,” and National Public Radio. He teaches piano, bass, ear training and ensembles at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Jerry Leake, tabla
Jerry Leake is an Associate Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. He leads the world-rock-fusion band Cubist whose CDs feature his skill as a composer, arranger, and performer. Jerry is a co-founder of the Indo/Jazz band Natraj and the dub/trance/groove collective Club d’Elf, and a member of Agbekor Society.
Jerry studied North Indian tabla with Rajeev Devasthali and Todd Nardin, and South Indian mrdangam/rhythm theory with T. K. Ramakrishnan. Additional knowledge has been gained through his close association with sarod master and scholar, George Ruckert. Jerry studied Ewe drumming with David Locke, Godwin Agbeli and his sons Nani, Reuben and Emmanuel, and Dagomba drumming with Alhaji Dolsina Abubakari Lunna.
Jerry graduated from Berklee where he studied jazz vibraphone with Gary Burton and Ed Saindon, and hand percussion with Pablo Landrum. He has written eight widely used texts on world percussion, numerous articles for PAS magazine, and manuals for drum set.
berklee.edu/people/jerry-leake
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