Rudresh Mahanthappa (pronounced rude-resh ma-han-thuh-puh) is a skilled technician of the alto saxophone but he also plays as if there is no tomorrow - with immense passion and sturm-und-drang (sp?). It's kind of like a mixture of late Coltrane with Sam Rivers, Frank Wright, Kadri Gopalnath (an Indian carnatic saxophone legend with whom he has collaborated) and bits of M-Base mentality/theory (read: Steve Coleman).

An interesting note. I inadvertently alluded to all saxophonic influences above, which begs the question: What other instruments and/or compositional approaches have influenced Rudresh's sound as a soloist.

His playing can also be extremely funky and "soulful" as he alludes to various harmonic devices employed by predecessors Joe Henderson and even Hank Mobley (very minor influences) as well as comtemporaries Kenny Garrett, whom he has clearly checked out - like any reasonable altoist playing jazz today would. Unlike Garrett, who is "thoroughly entrenched in a middle-period Coltrane modal vocabulary," (according to my acquaintance, the Pittsburgh-based oboe player/free improviser Lenny Young), Rudy (as those close to the saxophonist call him) is strikingly original.

He started out at the University of North Texas (a jazz program known for its big bands that foster development of flawless technique, speed and amazing (sight)reading skills - and very little individuality in terms of expression as far as I know). He ended up at Berklee exploring the fringes of jazz.

Today, as many informed observers of the creative music scene (where advanced composition combined with relatively "free" improvisation are equally important) would agree, Rudy is one of the most important voices on this scene.

Part of that is because of his close affiliation with pianist Vijay Iyer, a musician slowly but surely building a name and reputation not unlike trumpeter Dave Douglas built in the early 1990s in a variety of group settings without the support of major labels (which in Douglas' case came a bit later and quickly exited the picture and ended up in his groundbreaking Greenleaf Music label/collective).

Mahanthappa and Iyer are both Indian-Americans which connects them on a very important level, but their connection as cultural brothers is almost a coincidence in that they share a similar exploratory aesthetic in their music that has a lot to do with time signatures and form of compositions.

But what has made Mahanthappa a success today as a mid-30s improvising musician who doesn't take wedding gigs or play as a sideman in straight-ahead groups, I think, is his endless quest to find grants to support what he wants to be doing musically. He can take care of his technique and his path as an original voice as long as he has the financial backing to do so without having to play gigs most nights to stay afloat.

Supporting oneself through grants is certainly not a new idea but an important one that young students of music should take to heart. Rudy has very clearly used his cultural antecedents and his fascination with language and numerology to tie in with his musical explorations. In the process, he has convinced sponsoring organizations that his artistic vision is worthy of their support. I think this is his most admirable trait, because he has done it in a way that doesn't seem too contrived.

Most recently, Rudresh is the recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship which will allow him to travel to India a number of times to research a project and make some new music out of it. Godspeed Rudy!

I don't exactly know how much further I can go with this post except to say that this all hit me when seeing Rudresh perform his Chamber Music America-sponsored Codebook project last Friday as part of Ars Nova Workshop's recent progressive programming.

I encouraged him and Vijay to start a blog where all sorts of artists from their creative pool could come and post ideas, thoughts, whims, or stories and create a community through the web.

Let's see if they do it. Vijay has some strong feelings on the whole blogosphere. For more on that check out Still Life with Commentator by Vijay Iyer + Mike Ladd on Savoy Records.

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Cody B says:

Just happened to catch him awhile back at a gig in NYC (Corneila St. Cafe). Hadn't heard him. Dug it. Nice post.

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete