David Trasoff

Generally acclaimed as the best non-Indian practitioner of the sarod, American David Trasoff studied with Ali Akbar Khan starting in 1972 and began performing around the world at many fine-arts festivals and special occasions. His frequent accompanist, tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain, has played with Khan as well as Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan; before becoming Trasoff's accompanist, Hussain worked on several acclaimed fusion projects, including Mickey Hart's Grammy-winning Planet Drum and other albums by George Harrison, John McLaughlin, and Jan Garbarek. Hussain has also released an album of his tabla playing entitled Making Music (ECM). ~ John Bush