Australian Bebop Ragas

Teed Rockwell, touchstyle veena; Jesse Sheehan, saxophone; Andy Graham, didgeridoo & drums

Australian Bebop Ragas (also known as ABR) features original compositions and improvisations based on Hindustani Ragas. The combination of Indian scales and rhythms with unique Western-influenced instruments creates a sound which is both accessible and global.

Teed Rockwell learned these Ragas from over a hundred classes with Ali Akbar Khan, and from dozens of classes with Sitar Maestros Shahid Parvez and Habib Khan. Teed is the only person in the world to play in this musical tradition on the Touchstyle Veena, a unique customized instrument which has a guitar-like fretboard played by tapping the strings simultaneously with both hands. For more info on Teed please visit his website.

Jesse Sheehan is one of the very few saxophonists trained in the Hindustani musical tradition. He understands that keeping the rules of the raga gives a special kind of freedom that is as powerful, but importantly different from, the freedom of jazz improvisation. He studied tabla in India for years with living legend Pandit Nayan Ghosh, and also performed with many of India’s finest musicians. For more information on Jesse please visit his website.

Andy Graham plays (Australian) didgeridoo and (Bebop) drums simultaneously, using a unique rack mounted system that he designed and built himself. He played with Teed in the popular Sonoma county band DyaTribal, and is widely known as the inventor of many unique musical instruments. He is especially known for the slaperoo, which is played by musicians as diverse as Stevie Wonder and Indian Percussionist Shivamani. For more information on Andy please visit his website.