“Epic in every sense. One of the leading figures in North America’s burgeoning South-East Asian music scene. A global musical alchemist and cultural agent provocateur.” – Songlines (UK)

The career of Sunny Jain is a celebration of cultural diaspora: deep-rooted tradition that ripples outward, changing – and being changed by – the cultures that it touches. He is a composer, drummer, dhol player and thought leader. In 2022, Jain joined Planet Drum for their first show in 15 years, playing alongside drumming legends Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, and Giovanni Hidalgo. In 2021, Jain released Phoenix Rise, a collaborative effort featuring over 50 artists such as Arooj Aftab, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), Endea Owens (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and Joe Russo (jam band darling).

Questioning the idea of identity in a contingent world is at the heart of Jain’s newest project, Wild Wild East, the new album from the Brooklyn-based bandleader. It’s also at the heart of his story — as the son of immigrants from India, as a kid from Rochester raised on The Cure and prog-rock, as a fluid jazz drummer on his own, as a party-starter with Red Baraat (TD JazzFest 2013 & 2018), and as an American of colour. It incorporates the shuddering walls of post-rock guitar, howling tenor sax, the persistent thump of Indian brass band music, rhythms from Punjab and southern Pakistan, film soundtracks from around the world, and swaggering West Coast rap. A raucous, powerful, gorgeous, jubilant sound, it’s defined by its restlessness, daring enough to encompass many different identities. Prepared to be wowed by Wild Wild East at this year’s TD JazzFest! Ben Parag vocals, Alison Shearer saxophones/flute, Shubh Sarah guitar, Almog Sharvit bass

Opening for this evening will be Avataar