Rudresh Mahanthappa

Named a Rising Star on the alto saxophone in ‘03 and ‘04 by the Down Beat International Critics Poll, Rudresh is hails from Denver. He received his Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston and his Masters of Music Degree from DePual University in Chicago. After finishing at DePaul, Rudresh came to New York City in 1997. His presence was felt immediately. In a city renown for its competitive jazz scene, Rudresh’s performances with his trio and quartet, as well as his work with Vijay Iyer, his partner in musical advancement, has helped to put Rudresh at the forefront of the New York scene. He has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation as well the American Composers Forum, for music that resulted in the critically heralded Black Water.

His sound can be described as a cross between the rhythmic investigations of Steve Coleman and the introspective searching lyricism of John Coltrane. This alone though misses the larger picture of what makes Rudresh’s sound so personal as well as accessible. Rudresh’s tone cuts to the heart of the note. His inflections and use of quartertones add a vocal element that makes odd rhythmic groupings or unusual melodic choices sound natural. By incorporating the culture of his Indian ancestry, Rudresh has fused myriad influences to create a truly unique artistic vision.

The Year End Lists are in and we would like to thank the following critics for their support of our releases this year; Alex Dutilh for including Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell’s Streaming and Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Codebook in his year end list and Stuart Broomer and Philip DiPietro for including Steve Lehman’s On Meaning in their year end lists.

Additionally, we would like to thank those critics whose votes helped Muhal Richard Abrams Vision Towards Essence to be included on the Village Voice 2007 Jazz Poll and those whose votes helped Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers to be recognized among the Best Debut Albums of 2007.

posted on January 2, 2008 by Seth

The end of the year is fun for any number of reasons, but it is especially fun for us as it gives us a moment to find out who really enjoyed our output for the year.

At the top of our list this year has to be Derk Richardson. His declaration that Muhal Richard Abrams Vision Towards Essence is the Solo Piano release of the year, in the San Francisco Gate, is no small step towards making this our best year yet.

Not to be outdone though, Siddhartha Mitter listed Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers in his 2007 best of list in The Boston Globe alongside M.I.A. and Bettye LaVette. Not bad.

posted on December 23, 2007 by Seth

We never get tired of support from the New York Times, especially when it is as positive as Nate Chinen’s review of Steve Lehman’s On Meaning. From the most recent Critic’s Choice column Nate describes the results of the recording date as “The layered complexity of his music attests to some careful calibration, but the playing reflects something else: a spirit of lunging abandon constrained by collective purpose.” Regarding other label favorites, “The album’s chief relationship is between Mr. Lehman and Tyshawn Sorey, an impulsive yet exacting drummer; together they make up two-thirds of Fieldwork, a separate group that has made a science of rhythmic convolution.” Further wets our appetite for 2008, as Fieldwork goes into the studio this Friday to start work on their third recording.

From the pages of Jazz Times, Chris Kelsey’s review of Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers appropriately sums up Amir and the recording with these lines, “ElSaffar’s band (Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto sax; Nasheet Waits, drums; Carlo DeRosa, bass; Tareq Abboushi, buzuq and percussion; Zaafer Tawil, oud, violin, dumbek) has nary a weak link… There’s not the faintest hint of dabbling here; ElSaffar knows from whence he came, in every respect.”

posted on December 19, 2007 by Seth