Hailed by Pitchfork as “jaw-dropping… one of the finest saxophonists going,” alto saxophonist, composer & educator Rudresh Mahanthappa is widely known as one of the premier voices in jazz of the 21st century. He has over a dozen albums to his credit with his most recent release, Hero Trio, considered to be one of the best jazz albums of 2020 by critics & fans alike. Born in Trieste, Italy to Indian émigrés in 1971, Mahanthappa was brought up in Boulder, Colorado and gained proficiency playing everything from current pop to Dixieland. He went on to studies at North Texas, Berklee & DePaul University (as well as the Stanford Jazz Workshop) and came to settle in Chicago. Soon after moving to New York in 1997 he formed his own quartet featuring pianist Vijay Iyer. The band recorded an enduring sequence of albums, Black Water, Mother Tongue and Codebook, each highlighting Mahanthappa’s inventive methodologies and deeply personal approach to composition. He & Iyer also formed the duo Raw Materials. Coming deeper into contact with the Carnatic music of his parents’ native southern India, Mahanthappa partnered in 2008 with fellow altoist Kadri Gopalnath and the Dakshina Ensemble for Kinsmen, garnering wide acclaim. Apti, the first outing by Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition (with Pakistani-born Rez Abbasi on guitar & Dan Weiss on tabla), saw release the same year; Agrima followed nine years later and considerably expanded the trio’s sonic ambitions. In 2020, Rudresh released Hero Trio, an album of “covers” paying tribute to his musical heroes followed by the digital EP Animal Crossing in 2022 with the same trio. He also co-led a project celebrating the centenary of Charlie Parker with the blessing of the Parker estate. Mahanthappa has also worked with Jack DeJohnette, Mark Dresser, Danilo Pérez, Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, the collaborative trios MSG and Mauger, the co-led quintet Dual Identity with fellow altoist Steve Lehman, and another co-led quintet with fellow altoist and Chicago stalwart Bunky Green (Apex). His exploratory guitar-driven quartets on Samdhi and Gamak featured David Gilmore and Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski, respectively. In 2015 he was commissioned by Ragamala Dance to create Song of the Jasmine for dancers and a hybrid jazz/South Indian ensemble. He was also commissioned by the PRISM Saxophone Quartet to compose a chamber piece, “I Will Not Apologize for My Tone Tonight,” which can be heard on the quartet’s 2015 double disc release Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1. He was recently commissioned by the AACM’s Great Black Music Ensemble to compose “Finding Our Voice” which premiered in 2021.
I had the chance to get a little time with Rudresh ahead of the November 6th event at North Street Cabaret. We get an inside peek into just what will be going down at that event, how working with Francois Moutin & Rudy Royston over many years has almost turned into its own language, and what he is currently listening to. We spend a little time with what he is working on with his students at Princeton, including some very cool solo studies. When talking about the event, we also heard Rudresh highlight some of the people who made him take notice of all kinds of music, from Stevie Wonder to Johnny Cash (along with all those great saxophone trios) and how his Hero Trio alum and this event, are both taking flight around some of these inspirations.
