Jonathan Kay | California Institute of Integral Studies (original) (raw)

Jonathan Kay - Jazz and improvisation & North Indian classical music
Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Bansuri, Esraj, Shakuhachi

Being an innovative pathfinder and multi-instrumentalist, Jonathan Kay has been traveling the world exploring undiscovered musical realms which unite the soul of the East with the creativity of the West in a unique synthesis of musical expression.

From Toronto, Canada, but based in Kolkata, Indian for 10 years, Jonathan is leading the younger generation towards a truly original and creative approach to improvisation and global music through his tenor and soprano saxophones, esraj (rare Indian 21-stringed bowed instrument), bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute).

Trained as a jazz saxophonist for 15 years in Toronto, Jonathan graduated from the renowned Humber College with honours in Jazz Studies, where he was under the mentorship of world-class saxophonist Pat LaBarbera. Jonathan has been fortunate to perform alongside some of the world’s leading Jazz musicians including; Phil Woods, Daniel Carter, Tony Malaby, Jim Black, Seamus Blake, Ingrid Jensen, Paquito D’Rivera, Don Thompson, David Mott, Mike Murley, Michael Attias, George Koller, and Kieran Overs.

Inspired by the spiritual revelations crying from John Coltrane’s saxophone in the late 60’s, Jonathan is continuing Coltrane’s search for a “multicultural theory of musical transcendence” in Kolkata, India, where for the past 10 years Jonathan has been living with his Guru, Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharyya, one of India’s premiere singers, learning the art of North Indian Classical Raga music. Jonathan has also been formally studying the bansuri, with Sri Sudip Chatterjee since 2008, as well as the bora esraj, a rare 21-stringed bowed instrument, in Santiniketan with Sri Abir Singh Khangura, since 2012.

Jonathan has emerged as the first artist to traditionally render the full form of North Indian Raga music on his tenor and soprano saxophones, and has been recognized as an important innovator by many of India’s maestros. This includes the research and development of the first non-tempered saxophone, the Shrutiphone, designed to more perfectly express the subtle shruti’s (mirco-tonal inflections) of the Ragas. Jonathan became the first artist worldwide to premiere the Hindusthani saxophone (Shrutiphone) on the professional Raga music stage in 2013, when he was accompanied by one of India’s greatest living tabla maestro, Pandit Subhankar Banerjee in Dhaka. His solo performance at Kolkata’s Ramakrisha Mission, Gol Park, was also a historic event as it was the first time the Hindusthani saxophone was featured on such a prestigious stage.

Being recognized for outstanding cultural achievements by the High Commissioners of Canada in India and Bangladesh, Jonathan performed at The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi in 2012 and 2014, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2013.

During Jonathan’s time in India over the past 10 years he has been blessed to learn from and collaborate with many of India’s greatest maestros including; Ajoy Chakraborty, Rashid Khan, Dhruba Ghosh, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Bickram Ghosh, Tanmoy Bose, Subhankar Banerjee, Tejendra Majumdar, Ronu Majumdar, Subhen Chatterjee, Subhajyoti Guha, Sougata Roy Chowdhury, Prattyush Banerjee and Ranajit Sengupta.

An active composer and band leader, Jonathan is co-founder of Monsoon, an Indo-Jazz collective whose music combines elements of creative Jazz harmony and improvisation with melodic aesthetics of traditional Indian Classical music to produce a rich and meaningful cross-cultural expression. Monsoon’s first studio album, Mandala, received a Juno Nomination in 2014 and in 2015 the band was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award, in the ‘Best World Group’ category. The Monsoon Trio, co-lead by Jonathan Kay, is the first ensemble to collectively study in the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara system and perform the vocal and instrumental styles of North Indian Classical music on modern western instruments. Released in 2015, Pranaam, is the first recording of its kind and the debut of the Shrutiphone.

Kayos Theory, lead by the Saxophone Brothers, Jonathan and his brother Andrew Kay, is an improvising ensemble that explores the mystical synthesis of Indian Classical music with creative improvisation. Inspired by John Coltrane and the Integral Yoga psychology/philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, Jonathan composed an hour-long piece of music, Experiments of Truth Suite, which has been performed over 20 times in USA, Canada and India, each time featuring an internationally acclaimed special guest. In 2015, Kayos Theory toured India with Jim Black and Michael Attias and premiered the Experiments of Truth Suite in Kolkata and New Delhi, India as part of a cross-cultural study on improvisation conducted by Amandine Pras.

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