Rudresh Mahanthappa / Steve Lehman: Dual Identity (2010)

GLENN ASTARITA,

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: November 29, 2010

Rudresh Mahanthappa / Steve Lehman: Dual Identity

Track review of "The General"

Alto saxophonists Steve Lehman and Rudresh Mahanthappa are prime forces and motivators for the new jazz; artists who can boast impressive resumes as leaders, and first-call session champions that assist with surging the modern jazz element into diagonally opposed schemas. Dual Identities is a fascinating glimpse of what happens when two saxophonists merge their respective styles into dense compositional soundscapes.

With countering maneuvers, off-centered metrics and scintillating aerial assaults, the quartet primes for the kill on "The General." Here, the saxophonists bob, weave and impart an idiosyncratic and sizzling modus operandi atop unorthodox beats. Like whirling dervishes vying for top honors, the sax men produce high-impact statements amid a devilish, yet appeasing climate, while guitarist Liberty Ellman takes some of the edge off via his shrewdly articulated solo during the bridge. "The General" radiantly launches a program, steeped within technical veracity and cunning group-centric interplay, that proposes ammunition for the mind's discerning eye.

Personnel: Damion Reid: drums; Liberty Ellman: guitar; Matt Brewer: bass; Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone; Steve Lehman: alto saxophone.

Record Label: Clean Feed Records
Style: Modern Jazz

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