Rudresh Mahanthappa (born May 4, 1971) is a New York-based
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
alto saxophonist and composer.
Biography
Mahanthappa is the son of Indian emigrants to the U.S. He was born in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
as a result of his father's job in academia, but spent most of his life in
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
. He graduated from
Fairview High School in 1988,
subsequently receiving a BM from the
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
in 1992 and an MM in jazz composition from Chicago's
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...
in 1998.
After moving to New York City in 1997, he released the album ''
Architextures
''Architextures'' is the second studio album by American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer recorded with eight musicians. The album was released on via Asian Improv Records label. The tracks 3, 4, 7, 9 were recorded by a trio of Iyer, Brock, and Hargreave ...
'' with pianist
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...
. The two would continue to collaborate often, releasing the albums Black Water, Mother Tongue and Codebook with Mahanthappa's quartet, and
Raw Materials
A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedst ...
as a duo.
Manthappa is currently the Anthony P. Lee'79 Director of Jazz at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where he teaches improvisation and directs small groups. In 2019, he organized the first annual Princeton University Jazz Festival, which featured headliner
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
along with other student and professional musicians.
Musical influences
During his time at Berklee, he was introduced to the music of Indian saxophonist
Kadri Gopalnath
Kadri Gopalnath (6 December 1949 – 11 October 2019) was an Indian alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music for that instrument.
Early life
Born in Sajeepa Mooda village in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada ...
, whose use of a Western instrument in
carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...
surprised and inspired Mahanthappa. He would later travel to India on a grant to work with Gopalnath; the two played together in concert between 2005 and 2008 and collaborated on the album ''Kinsmen'' (2008), which fuses Western and Indian approaches to improvisation.
In 2010, Mahanthappa recorded and released ''Apex'' with saxophonist
Bunky Green
Vernice "Bunky" Green (born April 23, 1935) is an American jazz alto saxophonist and educator.
Biography
Green was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he played the alto saxophone, mainly at a local club called "The Brass Rail".
Green's fir ...
. As Mahanthappa tells it, "I first heard about Bunky from the late great saxophone teacher
Joe Viola
Joe Viola is a writer, producer and director of films and TV, best known for his work in television and exploitation films.
He started in the industry as a director of TV commercials produced by his friend Jonathan Demme. They made several film ...
when I was a student at Berklee in the early 90s. Joe heard me warming up once and recommended that I check Bunky out as he thought that my approach was on track to being something similar to his. He loaned me Bunky's record ''
Places We've Never Been
''Places We've Never Been'' is an album by saxophonist Bunky Green recorded in New York and released by the Vanguard label in 1979.Lyles, RBunky Green discographyaccessed August 6, 2019
Reception
AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow stated: "The strong ...
'' (Vanguard) which totally knocked me out!" Mahanthappa sought Green out and sent him a tape of his playing to which Green responded by providing some encouraging feedback, leading to a long friendship.
Mahanthappa traveled again to India for his
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
so that he could study and gain a better understanding of the formal elements of carnatic music. In a 2011 interview with ''
Westword
''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...
'' newspaper about the resulting album, ''Samdhi'', Mahanthappa said, "my idea was to take whatever I learned—take that knowledge—and really put in a setting that has nothing to do with Indian classical music.
Mahanthappa further claims
The Brecker Brothers
The Brecker Brothers were a jazz fusion music duo consisting of siblings Michael and Randy. Michael played saxophone, flute, and EWI, and Randy played trumpet and flugelhorn. The brothers attended Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pennsylvania ...
,
The Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California.
History
In 1977, guitarist Robben Ford, for his first solo album, recruited keyboardist Russell Ferrante, electric bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Rick ...
,
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
,
Grover Washington, Jr.
Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999) was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre.
He wr ...
, and
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
' electric bands as influences in creating ''Samdhi''.
Groups
He leads or co-leads the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet (with
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...
or
Craig Taborn
Craig Marvin Taborn (; born February 20, 1970) is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was ...
on piano, François Moutin on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums), Raw Materials (with Vijay Iyer), Indo-Pak Coalition (with Rez Abbasi on sitar-guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla), MSG (with
Ronan Guilfoyle
Ronan Guilfoyle (born 5 March 1958) is an Irish jazz educator and performer. He is the director of jazz at Newpark Music Centre in Dublin, Ireland and has performed extensively around the world. He is also a composer for classical ensembles and ...
on bass and Chander Sardjoe on drums), Dakshina Ensemble septet, and various groups playing under the label Dual Identity.
Awards and honors
Since 2003, Mahanthappa has been listed frequently in the Critics' Poll of ''
Down Beat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' magazine. He was named both "No. 1 Rising Star Jazz Artist" and "No. 1 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist" in the 2010 poll. In 2011, he was voted the No. 1 Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the 59th Annual ''Down Beat'' Critics' Poll.
He was given a grant by the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Music (2006), three Rockefeller MAP grants, and two grants from the New York State Council on the Arts.
In 2007, he was named a Guggenheim fellow to pursue his interest in how carnatic music can inform and inspire American jazz.
The
Jazz Journalists Association The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2016, it has approximately 250 members, including professional journalists, students, ind ...
named Mahanthappa Alto Saxophonist of the Year in 2009,
2010,
and 2011.
Discography
As leader/co-leader
As sideman
References
External links
Official website*
Saxophone Stylings, With A South-Asian Flair - NPR Fresh Air Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahanthappa, Rudresh
1971 births
Living people
Musicians from Colorado
American jazz alto saxophonists
American male saxophonists
Avant-garde jazz musicians
American male musicians of Indian descent
American Hindus
Berklee College of Music alumni
DePaul University alumni
Italian emigrants to the United States
Pi Recordings artists
21st-century American saxophonists
21st-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
ACT Music artists