B & B Jazz

Bhagwan Khalsa, was born in Baltimore, MD. He grew up in DC and Virginia until the age of 12, when he left the states to spend four years of his life in India. After graduating from high school abroad, Bhagwan returned to the DC area where he started his music career. Soon after returning to the US, Bhagwan picked up the electric bass and began collaborating with a local heavy metal band. This led to a more studied approach to music at the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. It was here Bhagwan graduated from heavy-metal, learning the difference between major and minor scales, chords and arpeggios.

Armed with his new-found theory, he landed a gig on a cruise ship in Hawaii playing ‘Aloha Oi’ and the occasional cha-cha. This experience laid the foundation of the musical relationship that produced B&B Music World. Brad Clements, soon to be the other “B”, played trumpet on the same band stand. After a year at sea, Bhagwan and Brad returned to the District. Bhagwan quickly made a name for himself playing with all the local jazz cats and some notables such as saxophonists Sonny Fortune, Gary Thomas, Cecil Payne, guitarist Mike Stern, vocalists Giacomo Gates and Kenny Washington, as well as pianists Kenny Drew Jr. and Eric Byrd.