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OLLY SARKAR
Olly Sarkar is a London based drummer, composer & educator who has a love for jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. Sarkar is active on the London and international music scene and performs regularly.
As a graduate Trinity trust scholar of TrinityLaban Conservatoire of music & dance, under the tutelage of Simon Purcell, Dave Wickens, Gene Calderazzo and Michael Janisch. Sarkar learnt the importance of the jazz tradition and also how to approach new music. He also was inspired to gain a deep understanding of practice-based learning and is currently in the process of publishing a book on this topic. Since graduating Sarkar has been studying drums and composition with Johnathan Blake. Blake has mentored and guided Sarkar in his development challenging him musically and conceptually.
Sarkar has preformed at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, The Jazz Café, The Elgar room, XOYO, The Royal Festival Hall, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, Pizza Express Jazz Club, The 606, The Vortex, Band on the Wall and Cadogan Hall. He has recorded live radio sessions for BBC Radio 2 with Jamie Cullum, World music on BBC radio 3, BBC 6 music and pre-recorded sessions at Herts Jazz for BBC Jazz on 3. Sarkar has recorded live streams for Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, Camden Roundhouse Rising Festival, the British Music Embassy’s SXSW showcase and Jazz Re:freshed’s SXSW showcase live from Abbey Road studio 2.
Internationally Sarkar has recently been on tours with Chelsea Carmichael, The Tom Sochas Trio and Nubya Garcia. Highlights have been Montreal Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Rome Jazz Festival, Jazz in Duketown as well Festivals Sarkar has performed at concert dates in Madrid, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw, Berlin, Brussels, Zagreb, Ljubljana and has toured extensively through Germany & the Netherlands.
Sarkar is a founding member of SumoChief alongside Joe Armon-Jones, Oscar Jerome & Jack Polley. Sumochief is a jazz influenced instrumental hip-hop outfit, taking inspiration from J Dilla, The Roots and the Robert Glasper Experiment.
His playing can be heard on Jazz RE:Freshed x The British Underground Outernational - Live from Abbey Road Studio 2 (2022), The Sorcerer by the Tom Sochas Trio (2022) Daniel Casmir & Tess Hirst’s second album on Jazz Re:Freshed These Days(2019), which features, Robert Mitchell, Tobie Carpenter. SumoChief albums SumoBeats (2015) & SumoTreats (2016). He has also worked with some of the UK’s finest musicians; Nubya Garcia, Nerija, Seed Ensemble, Reuben James, Chelsea Carmichael, Camilla George, Ruben Fox, Mark Kavuma, Jumoké Fashiola, Tom Barford, Billy Marrows, Cherise Adams-Burnett, and more.
As a bandleader Sarkar has lead his own group on the London scene over the last 8 years. Sarkar released his first two EP ‘Eyes Up’ August of 2020’ this year and ‘Ears to the Underground ‘ in October of 2020” Sarkar is planning to record his next release in early 2023.
Sarkar is creating a sound that blends Jazz fluidity with the crisp unshakable sound worlds of hip-hop, garage and broken beat whilst maintaining a spontaneous approach to groove and musical shape.