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Rudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
La sedicesima produzione discografica del sassofonista statunitense di origini indiane Rudresh Mahanthappa rappresenta un nuovo capitolo del progetto di fusione fra la musica carnatica dell'India meridionale e la musica occidentale contemporanea che ne ha caratterizzato l'intera carriera artistica fin dagli inizi negli anni Novanta, anticipando un percorso di sperimentazioni e commistioni intrapreso in anni recenti, tra gli altri, anche dal settetto dei Crosscurrents e dal collettivo dei Brooklyn Raga Massive. Hero Trio contiene nove brani che vanno ben ...
Continue ReadingRudy Royston: PaNOptic
by Karl Ackermann
Like many jazz musicians in 2020, drummer/composer Rudy Royston has felt the direct effects of living in the coronavirus world. The Texas native, now a New Jersey resident, found his streams of income drying up without gigs, but then experienced a fortunate twist of fate that stood him up. Head above water, the artist pays it forward by helping other musicians. The tracks that appear on PaNOptic were previously recorded but not released. Partnering with the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, ...
Continue ReadingRudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
by Mark Corroto
All great jazz musicians are omnivores, admired for their ability to ingest and synthesize large schools of music. Saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa is one such omnivore, maybe best described as an alpha predator. His music, whether it is advancing modern jazz or fusing the Carnatic music of southern India with his American experience, occupies the highest level of the musical food chain. Like other predacious jazzmen, he can make a meal of everything from pop songs to jazz standards. Mahanthappa's Hero ...
Continue ReadingRudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
by Troy Dostert
After topping so many best-of-year lists with his extraordinary quintet on 2015's Bird Calls (ACT), alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa has gone into trio mode. His gritty, self-released Indo-jazz-rock album Agrima (with guitarist Rez Abbasi and drummer Dan Weiss) was one of the highlights of 2017, and now he's at it again, this time with bassist François Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston, both of whom were featured on Bird Calls. An overt nod to some of his formative musical influences, some ...
Continue ReadingRudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
by Dan McClenaghan
In the chordless trio tradition of tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins on A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957) and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz with his Motion (Verve, 1961), alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa offers up his Hero Trio, a saxophone, bass and drums outing nodding to his influential musical heros. Mahanthappa began his career in the shadow of Vijay Iyer, playing on the pianist's Panoptic Modes (Red Giant, 2001), Blood Sutra (Pi Recordings, 2003), and Reimagining (Savoy ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino: Clarity
by Paul Rauch
Saxophonist Alexa Tarantino has as impressive resume in jazz as any artist could hope for at this stage of a career. As a performer, she has contributed notably to The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Cecile McLorin Salvant Quintet and Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, to note a few. She has lived the jazz life, juggling responsibilities as an educator, musician and curator, somehow fitting all the pieces together that illustrate the intricacies ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino: Clarity
by Dan Bilawsky
Alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino is an indefatigable spirit, plain and simple. In the past two years alone she's worked with everybody from trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, held down the lead alto chair in The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, co-led the fiery LSAT quintet with baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian, directed her self-founded Rockport Jazz Workshop, and appeared on more than a half dozen albums, including three collective-minded gatherings on the Posi-Tone imprint and her own debut for the ...
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