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Louiz Banks

Louiz Banks (born Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi) is a legendary Indian jazz pianist, composer, and record producer universally revered as the "Godfather of Indian Jazz." Over an extraordinary career spanning more than four decades, he pioneered the Indian jazz and fusion movement, transforming it from a niche club attraction into a mainstream cultural powerhouse. His massive artistic reach includes composing the timeless national integration anthem Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, producing over 1,000 corporate jingles, and contributing key synthesiser arrangements to R.D. Burman’s iconic Bollywood scores. Globally acclaimed for seamlessly blending Western jazz structures with traditional Indian ragas, Banks earned a prestigious Grammy Award nomination as a co-producer and pianist for the landmark tribute album Miles from India (2008), anchoring his legacy as a titan of global music.
Jazz Fusion / Indo-JazzProgressive Jazz / Post-BopLouiz Banks works primarily in EnglishHindiand Sanskritwhile also incorporating Nepali folk roots and various regional Indian languages into his diverse commercial and fusion projects.

Born into a highly musical Nepalese family in Kolkata, Louiz Banks was trained on the trumpet and piano by his father, who renamed him "Louis" in honour of jazz icon Louis Armstrong. In the 1970s, his legendary residency with The Louiz Banks Brotherhood at Kolkata's Blue Fox nightclub became the definitive launchpad for modern Indian jazz. He later moved to Mumbai, where his innovative keyboard work revolutionized the Hindi film industry through a long-standing studio collaboration with music director R.D. Burman.

Beyond commercial cinema, Banks became India's premier fusion architect, co-founding boundary-pushing ensembles like SILK (with Shankar Mahadevan and Sivamani) and SANGAM, which brought Indo-jazz fusion to major concert halls across Europe. His profound global impact was cemented in 2008 when he served as a featured performer on guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin’s project Floating Point, alongside receiving a Grammy Nomination for his extensive work on the Miles from India album.

A passionate educator and community builder, Banks continues to anchor the contemporary scene through his active, generational collaborations with his son, drummer Gino Banks, in groups like the Matrixx Quartet, as well as curating Mumbai's highly popular, intimate Jazz@Prithvi live concert residency.

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Louiz Banks Event History

Past appearances, performances and shows connected to this artist.

2026

1 event