Son of the late Indian composer and Indo-Jazz Fusions founder John Mayer, Jonathan studied sitar from Clem Alford (the first ever European sitar player), Pandit Subroto Roy Chowdhury of Senia Gharana and Ustad Wajahat Khan (direct descendent of Mia Tansen the great musician, one of the nine jewels in Moghul court of Emperor Akbar).

Jonathan studied composition at The Birmingham Conservatoire of Music under Andrew Downes and his father John Mayer. Through his career he has written for a multitude of genres and ensembles including – full symphonic orchestra, brass quintet, choral quartet, jazz ensemble, guitar & violin. His works have been featured on BBC world service and ITV and his compositions on The Teak Project have received rave reviews. Recently Jonathan’s composition can be heard on the CD entitled ‘Mantra’ performed by The Orlando Consort.

Jonathan is one of the most versatile sitarists in the world, having studied both Indian & Western music. From these traditions he has created a unique creativity towards the sitar, seeing it as a instrument and not a genre. His ability to read & compose western notation has enabled him to work on many collaborations and the wide range of artists Jonathan has worked with reflects the diversity in his playing:

Sir Paul McCartney, Future Sound of London, BBC Concert Orchestra, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Sarah Brightman,Joji Hattori, The Bingham String Quartet, Kathryn Tickell, Kumar Bose, Kavita Krishnamutri, Kuljit Bhamra, Erich Gruenburg, Rohan De Saram, Kenny Wheeler, The Orlando Consort, John Wilson, I Musici Fiamminghi Orchestra.

Jonathan has worked in most genres both live and in the studio including rock, pop, British folk, Bulgarian folk, plain chant, renaissance, baroque, western contempory, jazz, jazz fusion, Hindustani classical, funk & dance. One of his main attributes is having an electric sitar which gives more flexibility in the dynamic sound world of popular music. In collaboration with SPNM, Kuljit Bhamra, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jonathan will be performing original compositions. The brief is to write an orchestral piece while keeping the integrity of ‘Rag’.

“Exhilarating solos from Jonathan on Sitar”
The Times UK

“Jonathan weaves a gorgeous modal jazz solo on the Sitar in 7/4”
Timeout UK

Audio Examples:

Howrah

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Necrometer

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A Real Nightmare

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Headhunted

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The Temple

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http://www.jonathanmayer.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/jonathanmayersitarist

Virgil Howe began playing, writing and recording music in his early teens. His father, guitar legend Steve Howe, inspired him to follow in his footsteps, from the piano to the drums, to djing and producing. Taking in early influences like Vangelis and Jimi Hendrix, djing on pirate radio at the birth of Jungle and breaking drum sticks with Little Barrie at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2008.

After releasing a ‘Yes Remix’ album (Rhino/Elektra 2003), Virgil found a home at Scenario Records, under the name Sparo. There he released several 7″ singles, including ‘I Would’ featuring Karime Kendra, who would later join his super-heavy funk band ‘The Killer Meters’.

Along with ‘The Killer Meters, Tribute to the Meters’ album (2004), a critically acclaimed mix cd entitled ‘Sparoworlds’, additional remix duties for The Nextmen and a couple of club, smash-up bootlegs thrown in for good measure, Virgil built a name on the UK underground scene as Sparo, with write-ups in Dazed, IDJ, Wire, Hip Hop Connection and DJ magazines. His last release using the Sparo moniker, ‘The Falling’ (3BARFIRE, 2007), was a lush, down-tempo delight which caught the ear of Judge Jules, who included it on his Radio 1 show and Joe Ransom on Kiss Fm.

Having written and recorded scores for several small independent films, toured the UK creating live sound-scapes on stage using only two turntables for the Box Clever Theatre Company and playing drums for Bryan Ferry, The Pet Shop Boys, Little Barrie, The Dirty Feel, The Killer Meters, Shawn Lee and Future Sound Of London, Virgil Howe is well and truly forging his own path.

Thrusters
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Orbit
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Contact
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Joe and Will met in 2005, both coming from very different musical backgrounds. Joe was releasing drum and bass 12” records while Will came from the hard house and trance scenes. Their name describes their relentless passion to constantly explore genres of music, and represent their different influences within their own characteristic sound that they have become so well known for.

They started collaborating in 2007, and almost immediately drew attention from local DJs at respected nights such as Trash, as well as club promoters and indie labels. Their residencies at underground club nights soon moved into playing at some of the hottest nights in London; Matter, Trailer Trash, Durrr, Club NME, Boombox, Scala, Ministry of Sound, the Egg to name a few, as well as gigs across the UK, Berlin, Florence, Milan, Budapest, Bucharest, Lille, and Ghent..

Meanwhile their productions have been equally well received. Coming across with dirt and cutting edge production and an eye firmly on the dance floor, but also with effortless musicality not normally associated with techno, they win over fans from the band/ indie scene, as easily as diehard clubbers. They inject tonality and musical flow into everything they touch, all under the banner of techno or electro or whatever you would like to call it, and have been compared to SoulWax, Chemical Brothers, DIM and Popof.

The duo signed to Andrew Friendly’s Gulp Communications in 2008, and have released three EPs worth of material, appearing in the Cool Cuts Chart, and bringing a wide fanbase to themselves including Brodinski, Kris Menace, Vicarious Bliss, Casper C, Acid Jacks, AutoKratz, Dark Globe, Jody Wisternoff, Cazals, Matik, Virgin Tears to name a few. They went on to remix a wide array of artists, from the highly blogged Mystery Jets remix, to La Roux on Kitsune/Polydor, Revolver (EMI), The Bell, Jupiters Heroes, Acid Girls, Revolver, Franz & Shape, Division Kent (Sony), Circuit Freq, Milke and Atomizer. There are many other remixes in progress for the likes of Ministry of Sound, and EMI’s new priority band ‘Hockey.

Merrygo
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Mongo2000
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Monster
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