Rudresh Mahanthappa on the Musician's Show

Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Tune in Wednesday evening from 6-9 PM to hear this week's edition of the Musician's Show, where we will be joined by Rudresh Mahanthappa, an alto saxophonist and composer who masterfully and inventively fuses jazz with Carnatic music. He has been named saxophonist of the year multiple times in Downbeat’s International Critics Polls, Jazztimes’ Critics Polls and by the Jazz Journalists’ Association, and he is the recipient of a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. Mahanthappa completed his undergraduate studies at Berklee College of Music and received his Master’s in Jazz Composition at DePaul University in Chicago. Afterwards, he moved to New York and soon met pianist Vijay Iyer, with whom he formed the long-running duo project, Raw Materials. Mahanthappa co-leads the quintet Dual Identity with alto saxophonist Steve Lehman and is a member of the Indo-Pak Coalition with guitarist Rez Abbasi and drummer and percussionist Dan Weiss.

Carnatic saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, who inspired Mahanthappa to pursue his unique fusion of jazz and South Indian influences on the saxophone, joined him on a 2008 release, entitled Kinsmen. On Mahanthappa's critically acclaimed 2010 release, Apex, he was joined by alto saxophone legend Bunky Green, as well as Jason Moran, Jack DeJohnette, and Damon Reid. His latest quintet release, Bird Calls, is a "21st Century tribute to Charlie Parker", on which each tune is a based on a particular Charlie Parker tune or solo. The album features pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist François Moutin, drummer Rudy Royston, and trumpet prodigy Adam O’Farrill. Be sure to tune in this Wednesday night!