James has given concerts with cello and tabla and other combinations of instruments throughout the UK at festivals and music clubs. He has been a tutor of improvisation alongside Sanju Sahai, Rajeeb Chakrabarty and Rowland Sutherland at Aldeburgh Young Musicians.

James is also known  for his collaborations with Indian musicians including tabla players Kousic Sen, Sanju Sahai and Sankar Prosad Chowdhury, sarod player Tarun Jasani, sitar player Sanjay Guha and the London Sitar Ensemble, and the South Asian Music Youth Orchestra.

His interest in Indian music stems from his six month voluntary teaching trip to the Mathieson Music School, Kolkata, in 1998. Alongside his teaching duties he studied Indian music and tabla in Kolkata and in Varanasi. He continued his studies at the Ali Akbar School in Basel with maestro sarod player, Ken Zuckerman.

Sankar giving a workshop with children at Solihull School