I am a keyboardist/pianist/producer/recording engineer who stays busy working in Chicago as well as around the country and abroad. I perform and compose in a variety of styles from acoustic jazz to jazz fusion, and from R&B to Broadway and classical. I also owned a popular recording studio Curried Bagel Recording, and am in the process of building out a new commercial recording studio featuring a 48 Ch E/G SSL console - Transient Sound. I have produced, engineered, mixed, and/or mastered records done by some of the most gifted artists I know. I am currently proud to be a member of a number of bands that perform regularly, most notably the acclaimed jazz fusion group Kick the Cat and The Nicholas Barron Band.
Recently I, along with my friend and cohort Steve Gillis, produced Nicholas Barron's newest record. Because of it Nicholas was chosen as the premier "Emerging Artist" in the NY Times Arts and Leisure series. We performed in NY on January 4 at Joe's pub with James Taylor, the series 'mentor', MC'ing the event. Unblieveable!
In addition to these groups, over the next several weeks you may be able to hear me perform with Band of Joes (Joe's BeBop Cafe every Sunday), with guitarist John Moulder's group featuring either Paul Wertico or Ernie Adams on drums, with the Kris Myers (Umphree's McGee), Tom Wright (of the CSO), Kalyan Pathak's Jazzmata, Ernie Denov's Bad Dog, Luis Ewerling's Acor do Brasil. I have also performed in the orchestra for The Lion King and Wicked, and with groups lead by Fareed Haque, Orbert Davis, Frank Catalano and Randy Brecker, and Larry Gray among many others. Stay tuned for my acoustic piano trio recording soon to be completed. I've also recently performed concerts with Dennis Tufano of the Buckinghams, and at the Chicago Theater for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic boxing tournament.
Most importantly, I'm a new dad! My wife Temple gave birth to Ellora Josephine Tellis-Nayak on January 27th, 2006 (Mozart's 250th birthday). And Ellora now has a younger brother, Avahn Joseph, born on October 22nd, 2007. I've got a few new pictures up, but not enough......
Some other biographical information:
I was born in New York Sept. 4, 1975 and moved to Chicago in 1980. My mother is a Chicago native (South side Irish) and my father moved here from South India (Mangalore) in 1967. I grew up in the bordering suburb of Oak Park, home of Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernest Hemingway and Ray Kroc. I studied classical piano, composition and music theory growing up. At the age of 10 I won the Eastern Illinois Young Composers Competition for an orchestral piece I wrote. I won the following year for a small symphony and the year after that for a piano sonata. In high school, I began playing guitar and started performing professionally with groups like DJ Bob Stroud's Rockestra, Funkhouse, and Brother Bridge (my high school band). I attended Northwestern University for college, intending to pursue a double degree in music and something else (?). I finished the undergrad in Music Technology and got a scholarship to pursue a Masters Degree/Ph.D. in the Rhetoric division of the Communication Studies program.
I hope you enjoy the songs. They'll be changing up a bit.
Make sure to also check out my recording studio's web site (coming soon) and Kick the Cat's web site (www.kickthecatmusic.com).
|
