Rajiv Jayaweera
Jayaweera is truly a global citizen, a fact that permeates and weaves its way into his playing and composing. He was born in London, grew up in Melbourne, is of Sri Lankan heritage and is currently based in New York City. He completed his Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2000, and Masters in Jazz Studies at SUNY Purchase, New York in 2013.
In Australia he was a highly sought after drummer, touring and recording with the country’s finest musicians and ensembles including The Joe Chindamo Trio, The Bennett’s Lane Big Band, The Sam Anning Quintet, Bopstretch and The Australian Art Orchestra’s Crossing Roper Bar Project.
Since moving to New York City, Jayaweera has performed at the legendary jazz clubs, Smalls, The Blue Note, Bar Next Door, Dizzy’s (J@LC), Birdland, and others. He has been awarded grants from The Australia Council for the Arts, The Ian Potter Cultural Trust, The American-Australian Foundation, and was a finalist for the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship, performing at the Sydney Opera House in 2013.
Jayaweera has toured extensively around the world, performing at Jazz at Lincoln Centre, Doha, The Cotton Club, Tokyo, The London Jazz Festival, The Montreux Jazz Festival, The Copenhagen Jazz Festival, among many others. His quintet was featured as “artists in residence”, and a headline act, at the Thailand International Jazz Conference in 2020.
