Rain Sultanov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1965. Influenced by his mother and two elder brothers, he became a musician although as a child he was more eager to draw and attended drawing classes. When he was 14, his elder brothers decided that he should enter music school, where one of his first teachers was Chingiz Babayev.
He bought his first clarinet with his eldest brother's help. He often listened to famous jazz compositions performed by Miles Davis and Weather Report. Michael Brecker's unusual performances were to have a great influence on him later.
After leaving school, Rain was a clarinettist in the military orchestra for almost four years during his army service.
In 1985, when he was a student at the A. Zeynalli Music College, he won the Azerbaijan Music Contest. Rain became an accomplished performer of classical works by Weber, Tchaikovsky and Mozart and at the same time was a professional performer of well-known jazz compositions.
Invited by the famous Azerbaijani composer and singer Polad Bulbuloglu to join the Ashuglar group, he started to write improvisations for his songs, while continuing to play jazz with friends and family. Influenced by Michael Brecker's compositions, Rain wrote several of his own works and performed them on tour. In 1988 he was invited by the outstanding Azerbaijani singer Rashid Behbudov to work at the State Song Theatre. The same year Rain entered the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. In 1989, after the death of the Rashid Behbudov, Rain started working with the Gaya State Jazz Orchestra. The number of singers in the group increased under Teymur Mirzoyev's guidance, and many new opportunities came up. Invited by clarinet leader Tofig Shabanov, Rain started working as a soloist in the orchestra the same year. He gained a following as a mature improviser.In 1992 Rain was invited to work with the Azerbaijan Teleradio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Faig Sujaddinov. This proved to be a critical time during which he prepared several solo jazz programmes for concerts. From 1992 to 1994 Rain performed solo jazz concerts at various jazz and concert halls in Turkey and Moscow. In 1995 Rain wrote his first compositions, Jokers' Dance and Day Off . He took part to critical acclaim in jazz festivals in Germany in 1996 and 1997.1996 was a very successful year for Rain: in Germany he wrote several new compositions, including Last Moment, Crazy World and others. On returning to Azerbaijan, Rain decided to form the Syndicate jazz group with the participation of his eldest brother Rauf Sultanov (guitar), Eldar Rzakulizade (piano), Gamidulla Xafari (guitar) and Vagif Aliyev (drums). Syndicate performed their first solo concert, Last Moment, on 14th and 15th July 1997. Syndicate's performance of original compositions soon won it the admiration of jazz composers. At the same time, from 1997 to 1998, Rain was performing compositions by John Coltrane and Miles Davis in various jazz clubs in Germany and Baku. "Musicians such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis originated many new trends in jazz and they left a brilliant legacy," Rain says.
In 1998 Syndicate were invited to the World Jazz Festival in Novosibirsk (Russia) where they played alongside internationally renowned jazzmen such as Curtis Fuller (trombone), Adam Rogers (guitar) and Danny Makazlin (clarinet). After the festival, Syndicate received an offer from the festival organizer to record an album. In 1999 Rain shared a stage famous saxophonist Tommy Smith in Baku. Publicly recognized as a professional jazz group, Syndicate recorded their first album, Last Moment, in January 1999. When it was completed, Rain decided to change his image as a composer and move to innovative work with the clarinet. He has now composed his new album, Mugam magam, which is based on Azerbaijani national music. It is an intriguing example of Rain's creativity and musical skill.