Rez Abbasi & Josh Feinberg's Naya Baaz

Known to SFJAZZ audiences for his work with the all-star Miles Davis-meets-India tribute project Miles From India, vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia, and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition, Abbasi returns with a brand new project in an intriguing new collaboration with sitarist Joshua Feinberg — a superlative New York-born musician who, much like Abbasi, has devoted himself to an instrument indigenous to a culture other than his own. With a basis in Indian music, this night during a week dedicated to the jazz manouche of Django Reinhardt celebrates the many ties of the Romani people to the Indian subcontinent.

Raised in Los Angeles and inspired by Joe Pass, Abbasi began his journey at USC and the Manhattan School of Music before making a pilgrimage to India and studies with tabla master and Indian music icon Ustad Allah Rakha. He’s recorded fourteen albums as a leader with various ensembles and worked with a jaw-dropping list of greats including Vijay Iyer, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Dave Douglas, Kenny Werner, and Marilyn Crispell.