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| Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet at the Firehouse 12  On Friday, May 18th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship Award winner Rudresh Mahanthappa and his acclaimed flagship ensemble, the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet. The group, which features pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Dan Weiss, will be performing music from its third and most recent release, Codebook (Pi Recordings). The CD features music created using mathematical and cryptographic ideas presented in a history of cryptography called The Code Book written by the British science writer, Simon Singh.”If this seems complex and abstract and intellectually challenging, it is,” wrote Alexander Gelfand of Codebook in a September 2006 Jazziz article. “But the music doesn't sound that way to the ear. It sounds groovy, and intense, and dissonant, and jarring, and it makes you feel like dancing, and also listening very carefully.” AllAboutJazz.com's John Kelman added, “What takes Codebook out of the realm of clever convention and makes it a powerful statement is the freedom with which every player approaches the material...Mahanthappa isn't afraid to build complex lines that serve as catalysts for the rest of the group, directly or indirectly cuing directional shifts.” Time Out New York recently declared, “Many young artists have used jazz to take on issues of cultural identity, but few have done it as thoroughly as Indian-American altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa.” A regular on both DownBeat's International Critics Poll and annual best-of-the year lists, Mahanthappa has been impressing critics since moving to New York a decade ago. Much like his frequent collaborator, and fellow Indian- American, Vijay Iyer, he has created his own distinctive sound by incorporating the culture of his Indian ancestry, and a myriad of other influences, into the jazz idiom. In addition to his quartet, which also recorded 2002's Black Water (Red Giant Records) and 2004's Mother Tongue (Pi Recordings), he also leads/co-leads a number of other ensembles including a duo with Iyer called Raw Materials and the groups Indo-Pak Coalition, MSG, and the Dakshina Ensemble. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |