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Rez Abbasi: Thoroughly Modern Marvel
by Lawrence Peryer
Guitarist Rez Abbasi is part of a generation of jazz musicians who came of age after the conservative backlash of the 1980s. He and his peers are making their mark on America's art form by contributing their rich and varied cultural backgrounds and with an embrace of popular culture that was heresy in some quarters for far too long. Rez Abbasi personifies several of the attributes on display in his music. He puts forth a quiet confidence, ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi's Invocation: Suno Suno
by Matt Marshall
On the second recorded effort with his Invocation group after 2009's Things To Come (Sunnyside), Rez Abbasi opts for more of a rock/groove vibe to underpin the guitarist's modern jazz explorations with his fairly regular cohorts, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and pianist Vijay Iyer. Gone is Indian vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia, who sang on much of Things To Come, lending it a decidedly Eastern character. But Indian and Pakistani accents still flavor much of this followup, even as it hums, rattles and ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet: Natural Selection
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Profound spirituality and soulfulness is not a quality associated with secular music. However, once in awhile, even secular music reaches levels of such ecstasy that these elements become entwined in the heart of its melody and harmonic changes, as well as its iterant rhythm. Less often, this fusion is found at the confluence of mystic rivers of sound, where the myriad cultures of the world collide. Civilizations as ancient as Egypt, India and China have long held music in crucibles ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi: Things To Come
by Glenn Astarita
With his sixth outing as a leader, Pakistani-American guitar hero Rez Abbasi continues to reinvent himself, both musically and ideologically. He intertwines the quest for growth with a sense of humanity on this compelling release. Interspersed with ceremonious Eastern song-forms, Abbasi helps turn a new leaf on the sometimes staid, progressive-jazz realm. Featuring the highly-regarded and supremely talented frontline of saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and pianist Vijay Iyer, the program is laid out with a largely oscillating pulse, comprised of soaring, ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi: Things to Come
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
It may be a new day in America but we're all still keenly interested in identity. This is a statement of sociopolitical reality, but it is also an observation of musical trend. In the liner notes for Things to Come, guitarist Rez Abbasi writes about recording music that “is neither jazz nor Indian; it has its own identity." In order to understand this statement, it is worth mentioning that Abbasi is an accomplished guitarist of Pakistani ancestry and his group ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi: Things To Come
by Mark F. Turner
Pakistani/American guitarist Rez Abbasi has been a part of the emerging growth of South Asian jazz musicians which includes the very noted names of pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and guitarist Fareed Haque, and celebrated recordings Apti (Innova Recordings, 2009) and Kinsmen (Pi Recordings, 2008). A brilliant technician, Abbasi is noted for blending shrewd chops with South Asian and Western concepts. Here he presents Things To Come , not just follow-up to 2006's Bazaar (Zoho Music) ...
Continue ReadingRez Abbasi: Microtones, Fearlessness and the Fifteen-Step Process
by Paul Olson
India-born and California-raised, guitarist/composer Rez Abbasi--a resident of New York City for over a decade now--has been perfecting his own unique East-meets-West musical hybrid of Indian and jazz musics for some time. With the releases of Snake Charmer (Earth Sounds, 2005) and Bazaar (Zoho Music, 2006), he's perfected his formula, in part because his core group of drummer Danny Weiss, organist Gary Versace and vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia--supported on the former by master soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman and on the latter ...
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