Foreign

The New York Times, November 10, 1994

This was almost painfully reflective music, ending, finally, in an exuberant improvisatory interchange with Samir Chatterjee, whose Tabla playing also seemed less percussive than vocal. 

Boston Globe (Matthew Guerrieri), October 22, 2007, about Swara Yantra of Shirish Korde performed with Boston Philharmonic

The superb tabla player Samir Chatterjee joined the conversation in the second movement, pulsing tribute to the legendary Indian violinist L. Subramanium, and the music kicked into high gear, Kurkowicz’s scurrying violin riding Chatterjee’s intricate drumming over Technicolor splashes from the orchestra. Chatterjee’s solo legerdemain foreshadowed a violin cadenza, improvised by Kurkowicz in a slightly disparate Romantic style; an extended give-and-take between the two enthused soloists anchored the finale, framed by a torrential, exuberant tune up by the entire band, propelled by Chatterjee’s rhythmic authority and Kurkowicz’s energy. 

WNYC - National Public Radio, USA
Tabla player Pandit Samir Chatterjee is a walking history book when it comes to Indian music. 

The New York Times, Anne Midgette, June 8, 2006
This (‘Phoolan Devi Songs’ with Da Capo Chamber Orchestra at Markin Concert Hall) is a colorful, attractive piece, set on a lush, gaudy bed of amplification, aiming at an entertaining stylistic fusion; ….The highlight was the tabla playing of Samir Chatterjee in the final scene, which stood out from the other instruments with the kind of vivid, exciting performance that draws Western composers to a non-western music in the first place. -  

Rhythm, Allan Evans, September 1996
The remarkable tabla virtuoso Chatterjee's playing is rather unique among tabla artists as his impeccable mastery of rhythm is expressed with a rather vocal-like quality. His tabla speaks the patterns, adding a commentary to the rhythm and interplay with the sitar. A fine collaboration.

The Beat, Richard Henderson
Chatterjee is a good foil for the sarengi virtuoso, as his drumming works in the service of the raga and of Mishra. There is none of the flashy "bird-in-a-bottle" showboating, which has infected much of contemporary tabla drumming. Mr. Chatterjee's solid support and sense of restraint are to be commended.  

The Boston Globe, October 16, 1998
Chatterjee, who can sing and then play back the most complex patterns in the manner of great masters, also senses how to highlight more compact, swing-oriented parts through shifts in accents and dynamics.  

The Washington Post, August 17, 1996

The movement inventions were equally unpredictable. Neil Applebaum traded increasingly complex and spontaneous rhythmic patterns with Samir Chatterjee in “Tabla Tap Talk”.

AUDIO, U.S.A., 1996
On Blue Incantation, guitarist Sanjoy Mishra’s compositions reveal an intriguing and ingratiating raga influence, underscored by Samir Chatterjee’s tablas throughout most of the album. Their combined sound during “Bach in Time” (based on J.S. Bach’s gavotte and Rondeau from Lute Suite No.3) is fascinating and quite enchanting.

InPittsburg, September 9, 1998
Chatterjee uses the Tabla to add an extra melodic touch, rather than remaining limited to a percussive role. –

Rec'order pages - February 2. 1999

SYNC’s first album 'PORT OF ENTRY' does not at all sound effortfully avantgardistic or experimental - as one might have expected of a musician with Ned Rothenberg's background. Rather than that, the eight tracks come across in an explicitly harmonic and relaxed manner; a merit, which we attribute mainly to Samir Chatterjee, whose Tablas provide a percussive basis of an airy, light-footed quality.

Jazzthetik  Nr., January 2, 1999
“Unusual techniques require unusual technicians”. In SYNC’s PORT OF ENTRY Samir Chatterjee weaves his discreet drumming. It is especially the warm-sounding and intimate Tabla-accompaniment by Chatterjee, which fuses differing concepts of Jazz into one term: openness. From the Northern Indian regions Chatterjee brought along that sound which appeals so religiously, but nevertheless - or maybe just because of that feature - adds remarkable accents to the western-urban-oriented music.

Bay Windows, Theodore Bole, May 4, 2000
And not enough praise can be given to Samir Chatterjee's tabla playing, which supported almost all of the musical material (many sequences, both musical and choreographic, were dubblings of the tabla).

The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, May 17, 1995
‘Seductive drumming of Samir’.

The Kansas City Star, Mickey Coalwell, Nov 18, 2000
The glory of the program's first half was Samir Chatterjee's "Rite Rhythm," composed last year for Ethos and Eric Phinney, who is currently studying with the distinguished Indian Tabla player. The work features percussion from all over the world, including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and America. ... The work had all four players participate in a complex rhythmic dialogue that remained miraculously comprehensive.

Washington Post, October 11, 2002
Virtuoso Tabla player

Washington Post, Stephen Brookes, March 27, 2006
His (Ned Rothenberg’s) sense of line and drama is impeccable, and over Chatterjee's roiling tabla work and Harris's introspective guitar lines, the effect was compelling. .. this is unusually thoughtful music, and the subtleties of the tabla, along with Harris's sinuous guitar work, beautifully complemented Rothenberg's detailed, colorful and hyper-imaginative playing