JOY!Guru is an extraordinary joint project of legendary Indian slide guitarist, Debashish Bhattacharya, and leading Polish musicians from Warsaw’s alternative jazz scene: drummer Hubert Zemler, and double-bassist Wojtek Traczyk.
The album, which draws on the atmosphere of the 1970’s, was recorded during one all-night session in Poland’s ”Abbey Road” – Studio S4 of Polish Radio and produced by Karol Czajkowski. All the compositions were created without arrangements or preparation. As a result we get an improvised story about the meeting of the two musical traditions of East and West, told in the language of trance modal jazz, blues Hindustani raga and Hawaiian music.
Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, a student of Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and Brij Bhushan Kabra – with whom he lived and trained for 10 years. Pioneer of Indian slide guitar. Fascinated by the Hawaiian lap steel guitar, he created a series of his own instruments constructed for the slide technique, tonally referring to traditional Indian instruments – sarod and sitar. In his more than fifty years of career he has collaborated with many great artists, including John McLaughlin, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Srinivas, Bob Brozman. He has been nominated for the Grammy Award twice.
Wojtek Traczyk – Polish double bass player, composer, graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. Jazzman, keened on an individual musical language. He cooperates with many independent music artists – Gaba Kulka, Marcin Masecki, Wacław Zimpel. His solo double bass projects are directed towards improvisation and contemporary music.
Hubert Zemler – percussionist, composer, graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He has performed in symphony orchestras (National Opera, Sinfonia Varsovia), cooperated with renowned jazzmen (Zbigniew Namysłowski, Wojciech Staroniewicz), alternative musicians (i.e. Felix Kubin, Evan Ziporyn, Mitch&Mitch) and co-created many important initiatives on the Polish independent music scene. He is also an interpreter of contemporary music and the author of concerts for solo percussion enthusiastically received by critics.
