Raised in America, Jay combines elements from world, European classical, jazz, Blues, country and rock music and deftly incorporates his extensive knowledge of Ragas (ancient Indian melodies) into his improvisations. Jay approaches the guitar as a storyteller in the language of music.

As a sitarist, he worked closely with guitarist Michael Hedges and toured and recorded with guitarist Stanley Jordan (Ragas, State of Nature), has released several classical sitar works as well as forming his band touchingGrace and recording "The Gandhi Memorial Concert" with his group, The Rajdhani Quartet. His debut solo guitar album, "Stories from My Grandfather's Village", and the album "Rare" from his duo thirty3 demonstrate a guitar style that reflects an intuitive ability to improvise melodic lines that capture the heart and transport the soul.

"My study of North Indian Classical music was in a discipline that is largely based on improvisation. This experience revealed to me that improvised music is the most honest expression of who I am at any given moment.

The question obviously arises as to why I switched from sitar to electric guitar. The simple answer is that I need to define my instrument, not have my instrument define me.

Keeping in mind that my aim, my ultimate purpose for music is to express myself honestly, I abandoned the idea of teaching myself the guitar via the paths of the overwhelming guitar pedagogy available. I spent a great deal of time studying masters of the instrument and translating technique developed over a 25 year relationship with the sitar and Indian classical music. More so than playing sitar on the guitar, my journey has been to express myself rather than to be an ambassador of some tradition, be it either western or eastern. I needed to express myself, my aesthetic.

The sitar has a unique and distinct voice, a voice that is inherently tied to the history and culture that is India, and irrespective of the musical context, this connection to all that is "India" will always be a dominating presence.

I needed an instrument that had an "open" tonal signature; one that was tonally versatile enough to allow me the capability of altering or affecting the tone so that it best serves whatever genre, whatever palette I wish to work in. The electric guitar also enables me to better realize my personal tonal aesthetic, what I think sounds beautiful. As a sitarist, I experimented with different kinds of wood, different thicknesses of wood, different string gauges, different string materials, and different tunings, all in an attempt to get away from that stereotypical sitar tone, what I called at the time "psychedelic-banjo". I later realized that all along I was trying to make my sitar sound closer to a guitar.

Indian classical music is predominantly a solo form of music. In a classical recital there are two parts: one solo and the other with rhythm accompaniment, and although the exchange between the soloist and the Indian drums (tabla) can be very lively and entertaining, the form is more of a "call and response" rather than being characterized by interaction and creativity. Duets (jugulbandhi) are a recent addition to Indian classical music, but these, too, are built more on "taking turns" rather than on a symbiotic approach to the music. The electric guitar gave me an opportunity to improvise at a high level with other musicians, within other styles, in the language of music. I have always approached music as a storyteller, intuitively recognizing it as a language. The sound of the electric guitar is better able to blend within the confines and contexts of various musical surroundings rather than drawing attention away because of an overtly distinctive tonal fingerprint.

Being a first generation Indo-American raised in a culturally traditional household but growing up in a culturally diverse environment made expressing who I am complex. I needed an instrument that was open enough to explore whichever form of music I chose to engage in, and the guitar was the instrument that I had wanted to play since childhood.

I aim to create and build an approach to music that has the power to heal, to edify and to transcend both listeners and the musicians who are its stewards. I want to create a form of music that is constantly growing and evolving - one which makes musicians grow and listeners evolve. Most importantly, I want this music to break the boundaries created by culture, religion and geography. Raga is the foundation of my methodology, which I am calling 'organic music'."

~ Jay Kishor

Photo credit: Doug Miller

Amber

First Congregational Church Concert

The Color of Night

The Payans Concert

CD1 The Sowebo Concert

CD2 The Sowebo Concert

Stories from my Grandfather's Village

The Gandhi Memorial Concert

Happenstance

Panacea

The Reformation Sessions

Submission