TALA ARTISTS

Ty works with a broad range of artists including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Art Lande, Krishna Das, Curandero (Miguel Espinoza), Ustad Sultan Khan, Bela Fleck, Kitaro, Rick Alan, Howard Levy, and many more. He is the tour assistant for his teacher Ustad Zakir Hussain, touring and helping produce concerts in North America and Canada. Ty also teaches drumming retreats and tabla intensives throughout the world and composes / plays on soundtracks for film and video, including the recent academy award winning documentary, "Born into Brothels".

Ty Burhoe was born in 1964. His father was a performing classical singer and trombonist who exposed Ty to a wide array of music ranging from classical to blues and rock. Ty grew up playing a variety of instruments including violin, trombone and guitar. After an intensive 5 years training in gymnastics and martial arts, his love of the outdoors took him to Montana where he worked with the Boarded Grizzly Bear Project as well as BLM and the US Fish & Game service. During this time Ty began an apprenticeship with a Cree medicine man. For 11 years Ty intensively studied the ceremonies of that tradition which to this day continue being a deeply transforming force in his life. Also, from the time Ty was in his early twenties, he had become a full time single father. By the late 1980s, Ty had a degree in Psychology and Martial Arts and was beginning a teaching career. However, in 1990 Ty met Ustad Zakir Hussain and completely changed his direction in life. From that time forward, Ty has been wholly dedicated to music as a career and as a spiritual path. Through his teacher's inspiration, he has established new territory for the tabla which continues to attract international acclaim. His early work with the band Curandero introduced the intense fusion of tabla with flamenco guitar. The album "Aras" was nominated for a Grammy and received countless rave reviews. Ty has since become recognized for being instrumental in creating unusual collaborations that weave tabla with other traditions such as Jazz, African, Flamenco, Rock, Celtic, Chinese, Bluegrass and fusion. His recent work on a wide array of DVDs and film scores have come to the public eye with the Academy Award winning documentary "Born into Brothels". He has become well known not only for his talents as a tabla player, but also for his extensive experience as a recording and live concert producer. In 2004, he created the record label, Tala Records, and a concert production company called Tala Productions. These home-spun companies were designed to produce CDs, projects and tours presented by the many artists with whom Ty is involved: Ustad Zakir Hussain, Art Lande, Krishna Das, Kai Eckhardt, Curandero (Miguel Espinoza), Ustad Sultan Khan, Bela Fleck, Anindo Chatterjee, Steve Gorn, Roshan Bhartiya, Bill Douglas, Howard Levy, Rick Alan, Tony Furtado, Kitaro, Mamadou Diabate, Shubhendra Rao and many more. He is also the North American tour assistant for his teacher, Zakir Hussain; a versatile job involving concert production, sound board engineering, repairing/maintaining instruments, playing tamboura and managing the artists. Ty also designs specialized hand drums, percussion racks and instrument tour cases for various artists including Zakir Hussain. When he isn't performing, recording, or studying, Ty organizes drumming retreats and intensives around the Americas and Europe. Ty currently lives in Boulder, CO, and works as a freelance artist, touring up to 80% of the year.

Kai Eckhardt was born on June 15, 1961 in Mainz, Germany. Being the son of a German mother and a Liberian father, he was raised in Germany and West Africa. He began to study the bass guitar at age 15 and went on to establish himself as a well known and respected musician. Kai left Germany in 1983 to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. While still in school, he became a member of the Bob Moses Group and Tiger's Baku. At the same time, Boston served as a home base for the launching of various international tours. It was during this period that his special talent first received international recognition. Kai was the bassist for: Steve Smith's Vital Information, Alphonse Mouzon, Randy Brecker and Stanley Clarke. In 1987, Kai graduated from Berklee with honors and was offered a teaching position at the college. In the same year, Gary Burton recommended him to guitarist John Mc Laughlin. Kai joined the John Mc Laughlin Trio, which featured percussionist Trilok Gurtu, in December of 1988. The Trio toured extensively throughout the world and recorded two albums. The acclaimed Live at the Royal Festival Hall, recorded 1989 in London, documented a new direction in Mc Laughlin's music. This recording has been described by many as historic for its outstanding musicianship and unique stylistic blend. Between 1990 and 1993, Kai 's focus shifted towards composition. After a period of study, he began to write for a variety of different musical settings. Some of his work as a composer and arranger is currently being performed by the vocal ensemble SoVoSo, formerly known as Bobby McFerrins's Voicestra.

In 1994, the government of the United States granted Kai the status of a U.S. resident, based on his extraordinary abilities as an artist. He then went on to work with Billy Cobham's International Quartet, Touring the U.S. and Canada.

Meanwhile, Kai's career as a recording artist and live performer has continued to develop in a multicultural direction. The Aziza Mustafa Zadeh recording project brought together the folk music of eastern Europe with jazz. This 1995 release for Sony Germany features Kai along with Al Di Meola, Bill Evans and Omar Hakim. The production was followed by a successful tour, and the album reached the #1 position in the German jazz charts.

In the summer of 1995, Kai performed in Europe with the New York based band Steps Ahead and received a jazz award from Sony records. The year 1996 began with the Vibe Tribe tour of Germany, which included Patrice Rushen, Larry Williams and Teri Lynne Carrington. In the same year, Kai recorded 'Native Dreamer' with Brazilian percussionist Dudu Tucci. Another 1996 project combines Spanish, Indian and North American music. The Colorado based band Curandero recorded their second album with Kai E. and Bela Fleck. Shortly after he joined the band 'Glimpse', lead by percussionist and three time Downbeat poll winner Trilok Gurtu. Over a period of two years he performed with this ensemble worldwide. This formation produced two albums, one in 1998 and one in 1999. In November 1999 he completed the recording of his debut album for the British Naim label. Featured artists are Zakir Hussain and Courtney Pine.

Kai is currently Touring with the Band Garajmahal featuring Fareed Haque, Eric Levy and Alan Hertz. In March of 2001 he played a series of concerts with Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, featuring the music of saxophonist George Brooks, joined by Mandolin player Mike Marshall.

Bill Douglas is a bassoonist-pianist-composer who has toured and recorded for thirty years with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. As a bassoonist, he has played with the Toronto and New Haven Symphonies, and has recorded three RCA albums with Peter Serkin and Tashi. As a jazz pianist, Bill has toured and recorded with vibraphonist Gary Burton and bassist Eddie Gomez. In 1994, SOCAN, the Canadian equivalent of ASCAP and BMI, presented him with their classical composer of the year award. His compositions have been performed by major orchestras and chamber groups around the world. Bill's CDs can be heard in virtually every country and appears not only in the record bins, but on radio, in television and in a wide range of therapeutic environments. His music has become immensely popular in places such as Spain, Japan, Canada and across much of the US. He has been teaching at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado for twenty-eight years. He has recorded twelve albums of his music on the Hearts of Space label.

Steve Smith was originally drawn to the drums by hearing marching bands in parades as a child in his native Massachusetts. At age nine, in 1963, Smith began studying the instrument in earnest with local teacher Bill Flanagan, who played in big bands in the swing era. Smith's early inspiration at this time was drawn from the great drumming stars of the big bands such as Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson and Kenny Clarke, among others. After high school, Smith began studying music at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1972. There he received valuable instruction from such renowned teachers as Gary Chaffee and Alan Dawson. His drumming influences at this time came to include such notables as Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Lenny White and Steve Gadd. In 1974 Smith's professional career began in full, at 19 years old, with his tenure in the Lin Biviano Big Band, which he toured and recorded with for the next two years. At that same time he also performed with bebopper Buddy DeFranco and was a member of free-jazz group The Fringe featuring George Garzone. In 1976, Smith began his association with jazz fusion by joining violinist Jean Luc Ponty and recording the album "Enigmatic Ocean" (Atlantic 1977), which also featured guitarist Allan Holdsworth. However, it was while touring with rocker Ronnie Montrose a year later that Smith was asked to join the popular rock band Journey which brought his playing to the attention of a young rock audience. With Journey, Smith toured around the world and recorded many successful albums including the immensely popular "Escape" (Columbia 1981) and "Frontiers" (Columbia 1983), both of which garnered the band many Top 40 hits. Over the past 15 years, Smith has played on many hits with such diverse artists as Mariah Carey, Bryan Adams, Zucchero, Claudio Baglioni, Tommy Shaw/Jack Blades, Ray Price, and Savage Garden. Smith began leading his own fusion band Vital Information (currently featuring Tom Coster on Hammond B-3, Frank Gambale on guitar and Baron Browne on bass) in 1983 while still a member of Journey. His explosive solos and intricate timekeeping served to gain him much acclaim from sources such as Modern Drummer Magazine, whose readers voted him the #1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row. Other high profile jazz touring and/or recording gigs that have filled the drummer's schedule include such artists as Ahmad Jamal, Jeff Berlin, Michael Manring, Stanley Clarke, Randy Brecker, Zakir Hussain and the Buddy Rich Big Band, with whom he has performed in many tribute concerts to the late drumming idol. He also rejoined Journey for a short time in 1996 to record the reunion album "Trial By Fire" (Columbia 1996). In 1998, Smith began producing and playing on a series of driving electric jazz albums for the Tone Center label with a revolving cast of talented players such as Frank Gambale, Stu Hamm, Tom Coster, Larry Coryell, Jerry Goodman, Howard Levy, Steve Marcus, Scott Henderson and Victor Wooten to name a few. In 2001 Modern Drummer Magazine named Steve as one of the Top 25 Drummer of All Time, in 2002 he as voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame and finally in 2003 his Hudson Music DVD "Steve Smith Drumset Technique - History of the U.S. Beat" was voted #1 Educational DVD of 2003. Also in 2003 Steve Smith and Buddy's Buddies - the Buddy Rich alumni quintet - released two CDs on the Tone Center label.