*// Rainer & The Usual Suspects //*

As an international and renowned saxophonist, arranger and composer, Rainer Pusch has always been interested in trying out new kinds of music. His spectrum ranges from a jazz background obtained during his studies with George Coleman, Jerry Bergonzi, at the Berklee College of Music (Boston) to various performances with jazz, funk, latin and pop bands over the years. He has worked under many others, namely Art Farmer, Horace Parlan, John Betsch, Pony Poindexter. 

Besides his studies in Carnatic music, taking vocal lessons from S. Rajaram, director and teacher of the Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts, Chennai, Madurai G. S. Mani and Selva Ganesh, Rainer Pusch's manifold interests brought him to collaborate repeatedly with many famed Indian musicians such as the Mumbai based guitarists Keith and Karl Peters, with Louis Banks, Dr. Mysore Manjunath, Sanjay Divecha and Ranjit Barot within the scope of Jazz and Indo-Jazz Fusion projects. 

Further collaborations included recordings with A.R. Rahman and Ramnath Gopalnat as well as many gigs with Ganesh Kumar, Selva Ganesh, Dr. Balamuralikrishnan, and Amit Heri, Manickam Yogeswaran. 

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Smiti Malik : Vocals

Smiti Malik is the vocalist of Delhi-based band Kitchensink. She is trained in Hindustani as well as Western vocal styles, and draws inspiration as a singer and songwriter from Jazz and Blues as well as Contemporary Folk music. Also a session musician, she has shared the stage with artists like The Aditya Balani Group and Nishad Pandey, and is one half of 'Chayan and Smiti', an all acoustic set-up that she shares with vocalist and songwriter Chayan Adhikari. 

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Aditya Dutta : Drums 

Aditya Dutta is a professional drummer based in Delhi. He is a part of The Piano Man house band for the Sunday Musician Mixers. Performing and collaborating as a sessions drummer in the Delhi independent music circuit for the past 1 year, he has actively played with Rainer Pusch (Germany), Karan Khosla Trio, Aditi Dot., Rythem Bansal, Rie Ona (Japan), Ipshita Roy and various other musicians and acts from the city. 

His influences range from Jazz, Funk, R'n'B, Soul, Swing to Indian classical Music. He also serves as the drum faculty at various music schools across the city and actively provides private lessons to people keen on learning drums. 

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Sonic Shori : Bass 

Sonic Shori is a professional bassist in the city of Delhi. He is a student of Grammy-nominated Greek-American musician Panagiotis Andreou. He has comprehensive stage experience, and has collaborated with musicians from several different genres including classical, fusion, funk and metal. His playing combines complexity with cohesion, and playing melodies with dexterity, musicality and tenacity. 

Over the last few years, Sonic has collaborated with several bands in Delhi and across India, such as Kaash, Antariksh, Trizya, and Adil and Vasundhara. 

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Rythem Bansal : Piano

Rythem Bansal is a professional pianist and educator based in New Delhi, India. Although started with self teaching, he later studied piano from John Raphael and completed Trinity Grade 8 in Piano. Drawn to jazz and improvisational music, he also studied with Utsav Lal and Jacob Damelin (Canada). Rythem has performed with numerous musicians and bands in the city which has gained him the reputation of being one of the first-call jazz pianist in the city. Some of the great International and Indian musicians include George Brooks (USA), Rainer Pusch (Germany), Matteo Fraboni (Italy), David Soin Tappeser (UK), Pranai Gurung, Vasundhara Vee, Sentirenla Lucia, Sanjay Divecha, Shubh Saran, Aditya Balani and Kartikeya Srivastava to name a few. He has played at prestigious venues like NCPA (Tata Theatre), St. Regis, IIC, Neemrana Fort Palace, etc and festivals like Goa Jazz Festival, MTV India Music Summit Festival, Pune Jazz Utsav, Delhi International Jazz Festival, etc. He plays at The Piano Man Jazz Club every Sunday and currently teaches at Blue Notes School of Music.