Zakir Hussain

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain revolutionized the tradition of Indian percussion. The son of Ustad Allah Rakha, Hussain recorded scores of albums as a collaborator, beginning with 1969's Sitar Recital with Indraneel Bhattacharya, and continuing in the '70s as a co-founding member of Shakti with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar. He spent most of the '80s recording as a billed collaborator, issued Making Music -- his widely celebrated Western group debut with Jan Garbarek and McLaughlin -- and in 1988 became the youngest percussionist awarded the title "Padma Shri." He worked on Mickey Hart's Grammy-winning Planet Drum in 1992 and followed with the breakthrough Indian jazz fusion outing The Elements: Space. Hussain's highlights since then include touring and recording with Yo Miles!, contributing to McLaughlin's Industrial Zen (2006), and recording The Melody of Rhythm: Triple Concerto & Music for Trio (2009) and As We Speak in 2023 with Béla Fleck.