Jazz Articles about Rudresh Mahanthappa

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Between Kadri and Coltrane

by Hemant Sareen
August 2, 2007

New York-based jazz saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa in conversation with Hemant Sareen. The interview appeared in the New Delhi-based men's magazine, M, March-April, 2007.

While Bobby Jindal and Indra Nooyi are making Indian-Americans' presence felt in the corridors of political and corporate power in the US, another front seems ready to be claimed by them: the arts. And nothing represents the American arts like jazz. Despite being an international musical currency, jazz is still an unbroken American ...

Pegging Some Heartstrings: The Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet in New Haven

by Lyn Horton
June 17, 2007

Composition and improvisation can go hand in hand. Sometimes, the two approaches to musical creation are indistinguishable, in which case we can view the marriage of the two as a good one. Such a manifestation unfolded before an intimate audience at Firehouse 12, in New Haven, Connecticut on May 18, 2007, with the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet. Pianist Vijay Iyer joined the leader-altoist along with Francois Moutin on bass and Dan Weiss on drums.

Mahanthappa chose to perform pieces predominantly ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Codebook

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 22, 2007

Fra i nomi emergenti della scena jazzistica newyorchese c'è quello di Rudresh Mahanthappa, contraltista di origine indiana. Per scrivere le composizioni di Codebook, il suo quinto CD da leader (il primo, Yatra, risale al 1996), egli si è ispirato al fascino dei simboli della crittografia, o meglio ha tentato di tradurre in melodia e ritmo i metodi più o meno convenzionali di questa scienza. Al di là dell'intenzione d'origine, il risultato è un ottimo modern mainstream, un jazz non particolarmente ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Codebook

by John Kelman
November 9, 2006

Musicians who lean toward a cerebral approach face two challenges: avoiding contrivance, and ensuring there's enough emotional content to resonate with listeners on an instinctive level. Altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa has been performing an uncanny balancing act in that regard since he relocated to New York in the late '90s. He's been making as much of a name for his own work as he has as a member of pianist Vijay Iyer's various projects. The two share a cultural heritage and ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Codebook

by Jeff Stockton
November 3, 2006

Ever since Charlie Parker redefined the instrument, speed has been the stock and trade of the alto saxophonist. Find some sidemen who can keep up with you and you've got something. On Codebook, Rudresh Mahanthappa's quartet is rounded out by bassist François Moutin, drummer Dan Weiss and pianist Vijay Iyer, a constant compadre. Is Iyer a complement to Mahanthappa (and vice versa), or are they actually two of a kind? The knock on both of them has been that they ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Codebook

by Troy Collins
October 18, 2006

Rudresh Mahanthappa's previous quartet album, Mother Tongue (Pi, 2004), explored the transposition of Indian dialects into the structural frameworks of acoustic jazz. Codebook builds on the alto saxophonist's previous work by incorporating aspects of cryptography into his new compositions. He's joined by his regular foil, pianist Vijay Iyer, as well as his usual quartet bassist, François Moutin. Mahanthappa also invites new drummer Dan Weiss into the fold.

Opening with the blistering assault of “The Decider," Mahanthappa demonstrates potent ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa

by Tom Greenland
May 8, 2006

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa seems to have his fingers in quite a few pies lately: his quartet, featuring Vijay Iyer on piano, François Moutin on bass and Dan Weiss on drums, will be shortly releasing Code Book (Pi); Raw Materials, his duo with Iyer, also has an upcoming CD (Savoy); MSG, a trio with bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and drummer Chander Sardjoe will tour Europe this coming fall; the Dakshina Ensemble, an exciting East-West collaboration with South Indian classical icon Kadri ...