The Jazzcat

On Saturday July 21, 2012 LeRoy Downs broadcasted live from 1909 on Sounds and Colors Radio featuring

“Meeting of the Masters”

Featured MUSIC & ARTIST

Pandit Radha Prasad

Master artist Radha Prasad was born and raised in Northern India, where he first taught himself to play the flute as a child. After hearing the music of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, India’s most renowned virtuoso flutist, he moved to Bombay and began 18 years of rigorous and comprehensive training in the typical guru-disciple tradition of India. The training provided him with broad knowledge of Indian classical and folk music and he received a Master of Arts in Music from Pandit Chaurasia’s school, the Vrindaban Flute Institute. As a senior disciple Prasad has toured India, the United States and Europe with his revered teacher. Since moving to Los Angeles, he opened his own school, teaching Indian classical instrumental and vocal music.

The Indian bamboo flute is a popular traditional wind instrument that has mythological associations with Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, one of the principal Hindu deities. Deceptively simple to the eye, when played by a master with skill and artistry, the flute emits music that is intriguing, magical, and beautiful. Even though the bansuri, or bamboo flute, is a very popular instrument in India, it is difficult to obtain good flutes that are well made and accurately tuned. With his fine ear and perfect pitch, Pandit Radha Prasad has taught himself how to make and tune his own instruments. During a single concert, he may use many different flutes, each tuned to a different scale.

Lili Haydn

George Clinton calls her “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin.”

She has played with, sung with, and opened for everyone from Roger Waters, Herbie Hancock, Sting, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Josh Groban, Seal, Matchbox 20, Cyndi Lauper, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and George Clinton’s P-Funk All Stars to name a few. Both as a solo artist and as support, Lili has performed in premiere concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl. At the center of all Lili Haydn’s musical ventures is a belief that music has the power to uplift and to heal, no matter what the medium.

“Courageously intimate with her audience, Haydn lays into her violin as if it’s a wild animal only she can bring to heel. The effect is an emotional magic show…a party of sound…electronica beat, lyrical strings, ethereal voice, and words that resonate in the battered chamber of the human soul.”

–LA Weekly

Joel Ector

Joel Ector (electric bass, stand-up bass and flute) is rooted in L.A.’s wide-spectrum underground music scene.

His informal yet rigorous musical education with world-class musicians at a young age shaped his broad musical background. Growing up in the rich Afrocentric traditions of Jazz, Blues, Rastafarian Reggae, and Afro-Cuban Roots music, Joel was especially influenced by the new Jazz movement of the ‘70s. The new style, often called “spiritual jazz” or “free jazz” was a direct reaction to the events of the ‘60s and mostly notably pioneered by John Coltrane and championed by musical giants such as Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. It departed from previous sub-genres like be-bop, swing and hard bop, and explored new themes and ideas from non-western spiritual and musical traditions—ultimately appropriating eastern sounds and philosophies into a cosmic view of Jazz music.

He has played extensively in genre-blending collaborations, such as Afro-Cuban Jazz and improvisational interpretations of folk music from Nicaragua, India, Japan and Arabic traditions. He has played with some of the most highly respected musicians, including Billy Higgins, Radha Prasad, Tootie Heath, Pharoah Sanders, Horace Tapscott, Michael White, Frank Morgan and many more from varied musical backgrounds. Joel’s personal mission as a musician is to embrace the diversity of peoples and cultures worldwide through the universal language of music.

Fritz Wise (replacing Cornel Fauler) on drums

Master of Ceremonies for the Evening