Navin Chhettri is the founding member of Cadenza also the organizer and the driving force of Nepal's one and only annual jazz festival, Jazzmandu. Navin was influenced by Indian rhythms and vocals at an early age. Then, after experimenting with many genres of music and growing as a singer, and later as a drummer, he found his passion in the creative realm of jazz. His love for music has led him into music education and his desire to share the joy of jazz has inspired him to help bring talented musicians from around the world to Nepal. Navin's innovative arrangements have exposed the young generation of Nepalis to the improvisational nature of jazz.
Pravin Chhettri, long-time member of the band, and Navin’s younger brother, started as a bass player. Later, he became skilled as a guitarist and now focuses his energies on the trumpet. He too was influenced by Indian rhythms and different genres of music while growing up in Darjeeling. Now, he has become a highly versatile and talented member of the band, and exudes a unique energy and presence on stage. Presently in Germany has many stories of music and experience to share.
Mariano E. Abello, [axophones, flute, clarinet, oboe]
Mariano started playing at a young age in his native Spain. In Spain he performed with various groups in different styles including blues, flamenco, jazz, and bossa-nova and he also taught general music in public and private schools. In 1996 he moved to the USA in search of a better musical education, especially in the jazz area. In 2002 Mariano received his bachelor in Jazz Studies and in 2005 a Master of Arts in woodwind performance and pedagogy both from Florida Atlantic University.
Mariano performed in different jazz festivals such as Montreux Jazz
Festival in Switzerland and North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. In
addition he performed on bass clarinet and saxophones with the Merida-Miami Symphonic Orchestra in Mexico. He is a freelance player who specializes in jazz, latin music, flamenco, blues and Broadway shows playing saxophones, flute, clarinet and oboe.
From 2002 to 2005 Mariano taught theory, jazz combos, and saxophone ensemble at FAU. He created the FAU Latin Jazz Ensemble Dame Más, and organized and directed the 2004 and 2005 FAU Jazz Festival featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio, Bobby Shew and Mike Stern.
Samir Chettri: Congas, Percussion
Samir grew up in a very musical family at an early age he experienced Jazz playing around him. Samir’s first big musical experience as a musician was playing the bass for Cadenza’s new album ‘Groove For Shiva’. After that Samir had huge admiration for the afro Cuban and Brazilian rythms.The fall of2005 Samir officially joined Cadenza as a Conga player and since then he has been exploring with different grooves and energies of this wonderful instrument .
He is also a student of Art at the Kathmandu University and the Media Coordinator for Jazzmandu 2006
Lately his inspirations have been The Great Masters of Percussion, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jerry Gonjalves ,Poncho Sanchez and many more.
Rajat Rai: Lead Guitar
Rajat was born in Darjeeling in the year 1986. At and early age he was influenced by the guitar and started playing for school concerts and other small events, and also formed a band with his friends in Darjeeling.
Rajat was immediately recognized as one of the young talents and was invited by ‘Aabhaya and the Steam engines’ to join the band and move to Kathmandu. While in Kathmandu he experienced different forms of music and was very inspired by Cadenza’s Jazz.
After leaving the Steam engines Rajat formed a band with fellow and musicians and friends which was called the Groove Trio. The band was doing well but did not last very long. Rajat was then discovered by Cadenza and was asked to perform with them as a guitar player for the band. Since early 2006 he has been a total energy in the band and has proved himself as one of the youngest and talented Jazz guitarist of Nepal. He has also recently performed with some Norwegian musicians for the Ibsen concert that was held in May 2006. His influences have been such greats like Wes Montgomery ,George Benson, Chalrie Christine and lately inspired by the sounds of Patt Martino, Patt Mathaney, John Scofield, Jesse Van Ruler and Charlie Hunter.
Roshan Gurung: Bass Guitar
Roshan Gurung was born in Pokhara in the year 1982 and moved to Kathmandu at the age of four. His love for the guitar started at an early age but he discovered later that he would want to play the bass more than anything. His early musical interest was Punk rock and other forms of underground music. He hasplayed with bands like Four on the Floor, Shades of blue and Soul-T.
His interest for Jazz was mostly inspired by Chi the former bass player of Cadenza. Slowly his enthusiasm for Jazz started to grow and he seriously th thought about learning the instrument and the style extensively. He also Studies Jazz with Sharad Gurung. Roshan is a very dedicated and steady innovative Bass player of his genre.
