The Alaya Project

About

The Oakland-based band exploring the intersection of Carnatic Indian classical music with jazz and funk return to the Joe Henderson Lab with new music and material from their 2022 self-titled debut album. Made up of percussionist Rohan Krishnamurthy , saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan , and keyboardist Colin Hogan *, the trio was formed in 2017 to perform at an UnderCover Presents concert in Berkeley honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles’ immortal Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band , and was the perfect outlet for longtime friends Krisnamurthy and Radhakrishnan to meld their love of jazz with their extensive South Indian classical training. A Kalamazoo, Michigan native, Krishnamurthy is one of the leading lights of Carnatic music in the U.S. and a master of the mridangam — a double-headed drum that is the primary rhythm accompaniment in Carnatic music and is played by Krishnamurthy in this project in conjunction with the Western drum set. Phoenix-born Radhakrishnan is known to SFJAZZ audiences through his dynamic Indo-Jazz trio VidyA and has been a major force in Bay Area jazz since 2005. Hogan is a San Francisco native who came through the prestigious Berkeley High jazz program and works with Tommy Igoe, Jazz Mafia, and his brothers in the Hogan Brothers band.