On Friday, March 3, saxophonist Phil Scarff and tabla artist Jerry Leake perform a concert of North Indian classical music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Spaulding Hall, basement of Alden Memorial Hall (Music Building), 100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA 01609. The show begins at 7:00PM. All ages welcome. Free admission. For information, contact jdavis5@wpi.edu. Parking available at the West Street lot at intersection of West St. and Institute Rd.

Deeply meditative ragas. Intricate, invigorating rhythms. Soulful improvisation. Delicate, nuanced phrasing. Soaring flights of melody. Saxophonist Phil Scarff and tabla master Jerry Leake capture listeners’ imaginations in this concert of North Indian classical music. From pure classical tradition to folk and devotional melodies, Scarff and Leake transport the audience to a state of delight. 

Hot off a tour of North Indian classical concerts in India, Phil Scarff (philscarff.com) brings his exquisite Indian classical music to WPI. Phil has pioneered the performance of North Indian classical music on soprano saxophone, and exquisitely captures the subtlety and depth of this music on this Western instrument. Indian classical appearances include India's famed Tansen Samaroh (Gwalior); Nehru Center and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, (Mumbai); Saptak School of Music (Ahmedabad); ICCR Theater and India Habitat Centre (Delhi); Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (Kolkata); and LearnQuest Festival (Boston). Phil is also a master jazz saxophonist, and leads the acclaimed world-jazz ensembles, Natraj and the Lewis Porter-Phil Scarff Group. Phil is featured on over 40 acclaimed CDs/DVDs "Intoxicating music… Phil Scarff's rendition of [twilight] Raga Puriya Dhanashri… created the image of a multi-colored sunset lighting up the sky." – Sakal, Pune, India

Jerry Leake (rhombuspublishing.com)  is a Professor of World Percussion at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. He leads the world-rock-fusion band Cubist whose CDs feature his skill as a composer, arranger, and performer. Jerry graduated from the Berklee College of Music where he studied jazz vibraphone with Gary Burton, and African percussion in Boston with Godwin Agbeli and Dolsi-Naa Abubakari Luna. He studied tabla in Pune, India with Rajeev Devasthali and Carnatic rhythm theory and mridangam with T. K. Ramakrishnan. He has written eight widely used texts on world percussion, and numerous articles for PAS magazine.

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philscarff.com, press kits, photographs, and CDs available