Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Rudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
Rudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
ByWhere Bird Calls sliced and decontextualized Parker's music, this release takes it head on. "Red Cross" and "Dewey Square" are delivered with all the ferocity Parker listeners must have felt back in the 1940s. The inner sleeve of the CD has a photo of the trio dressed as comic book super heroes, and like The Avengers comics, the Hero Trio often plays one strong character against the others to great effect.
This session is an all-covers recording. From the sweet notes of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" to the standard "I'll Remember April," this triad of voracious improvisers absorbs the familiar and reimagines it. Maybe the best example is "Ring Of Fire" made famous by Johnny Cash. Like Sonny Rollins' reworking of "I'm An Old Cowhand," Mahanthappa sets sail on the conventional, expanding one's insights on the familiar. The trio's expansion includes Ornette Coleman's "Sadness" with Moutin's inspired bowed opening, Royston's mallet work, and the saxophonist's ineffable voicing. The highlight here might be "Barbados/26-2." It is the merging of Parker's "Barbados" with Coltrane's "26-2," which itself was a borrowed chord progression of Bird's "Confirmation." The trio ensnares the compositions by tracking one, then the other, before entangling both in their musical jaws. It is a delicious massacre.
Track Listing
Red Cross; Overjoyed; Barabados/26-2; I Can't Get Started; The Windup; Ring Of Fire; I'll Remember April; Sadness; Dewey Square.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Hero Trio | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Whirlwind Recordings
< Previous
Jorja Smith, Gary Bartz & Maisha, Jer...
Next >
Duo from the Heart
Comments
About Rudresh Mahanthappa
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar To