CANCELLED – Satabdi Express

Thursday August 11, 9pm – Music

Satabdi Express: Dave Cipriani: 20-string Indian slide guitar, classical & electric guitar, vocals; Jake Leckie: Upright Bass; Alan Munshower: Drums & Percussion; Melissa Hullman: Violin

Named after a famous train in India, Satabdi Express is the brainchild of guitarist/songwriter/composer Dave Cipriani Guitarable.com reported. Satabdi Express combines the ancient with the modern, while striving to maintain authenticity and a sense of heart.  Combining the sounds of North Indian Classical music with classic jazz instrumentation and sensibility, the music also brings in other American influences such as country blues, folk and funk, with hints of middle eastern and flamenco sounds as well. A set of music by Satabdi Express would include several originals by Cipriani, then maybe some modal jazz standards, a Django Reinhardt tune, a Ravi Shankar piece written for jazz musicians, or other well-known songs reinterpreted for Indian guitar.

Dave Cipriani was named a 2006 and 2008 recipient of the Individual Artist Award in Solo Instrumental Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council.  He studied classical guitar in college, and also studied jazz privately with the late jazz guitar legend Charlie Byrd. He attended master class with renowned classical guitar virtuoso Christopher Parkening.  Later, he led several bands after college, combining his knowledge of jazz and classical music with the singer-songwriter and rock traditions.  In 1998 Dave began studying North Indian Classical Music, on slide guitar, first with sitar Maestro Jay Kishor, then in 2003 with Indian slide guitar master Pandit Barun Kumar Pal, one of the senior most disciples of Ravi Shankar.  Cipriani traveled to India three times to study with Pal, and currently plays Indian and Indian influenced music on a 20-string guitar custom built by one of the top luthiers of India.  Dave is currently finishing an MFA in North Indian music at world-renowned California Institute of the Arts, where he has studied indian music with Maestro Aashish Khan and Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, as well as studying jazz, african and balkan music with guitarists Miroslav Tadic and Larry Koonse

Variety is the spice of Bass for Jake K. Leckie.  He regularly performs and records jazz, tango, chamber music, gospel, free improvisation, folk, bluegrass, and new music.  A native of Boston, MA, he studied with John Lockwood, and went to school in Baltimore where he was under the guidance of Michael Formanek.  From Boston to Baltimore, Barcelona to Banff, Montreal to New York City, Jake enjoys a career as a multi-instrumentalist and producer.  He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, and works with The So On and So Forth jazz trio, Mashed Potangos tango/chamber ensemble, The Satabdi Express indian classical gypsy jazz fusion quartet, AHL free-tango trio, the ministry of the Parkchester Baptist Church, and the BCCO.  His performance credits include The Baltimore Jazz and Blues Festival,
Canadian Music Week, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The All Good Festival, and the Federal Hill Festival.  He appears on numerous recordings as a sideman, and runs his production company, The Organic Sound Lab.

Alan Munshower started pursuing drums at age 10 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music from Goucher. While at school, he performed in Soft Shoe Shuffle, an original fusion/jam band that released a CD and toured in France. Munshower formed the world-fusion group Sangita that toured France in 2003. In the past few years, he has been busy with the trio ricochet. His duo with pianist Nobu Stowe, A-UN, has a forthcoming album on Soul Note featuring tabla master Badal Roy. Munshower can also be seen with the Kiss Quartet, the Philtones, Eva Castillo, Not For Human Hearing, Boostimus!, The So On and So Forth and Sac Au Lait.

Melissa Hullman has served on the violin faculty of the Peabody Institute for the past seven years. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Peabody Chamber Camp, has served as co-chair of Peabody Young Peoples String Program, and is past president of the area chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Hullman holds a bachelor’s of music degree from the University of Michigan, and a master’s in violin performance and pedagogy from
the Peabody Conservatory.