Customer Reviews

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I will give my Cambridge neighbor below the benefit of the doubt that what he is saying is that he prefers the sounds of Stan Getz and Ben Webster (not Kenny G!) over that of Rudresh Mahanthappa. I love the sound of a lush, lyrical ballad but jazz doesn't need another Stan Getz or Ben Webster. Rudresh and his current piano partner Vijay Iyer are creating and playing some real fresh music. They recently played at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Unfortunately for me it was sold out. Funny I would think that the new Contemporary Institure of Art would be a more appropriate setting than the drapery lined walls of the ISG Museum but it's great that they are bringing cutting edge music to this jazz starved town. Check out the track samples here on this CD as well as Mother Tongue, Blackwater and anything by Vijay Iyer (check out Vijay's collaborations with Mike Ladd if your really open minded and like a challenge). This is not cacophonously challenging in the avant-garde sense such as Evan Parker (awesome as well!). This is powerful, driven, edgy stuff (Pardon the lame cliches but I am obviously not a musician, critic or a student of music). His tone really appeals to me as do his compositions. All I can say is more please!

Rudresh Mahanthappa (here with his frequent partner in crime, Vijay Iyer) is a practioner of controlled cacophony: that is, the tonal language of free jazz, applied to highly composed and thought-out musical structures. Loud, brassy tones and twisty, disjointed lines appear on the surface to have little relation to each other. But prop the lid up just a little bit, and what emerges is a complex, highly rhythmic language of intense modern jazz. A lot of that rhythm derives from Mahanthappa's South Asian heritage, a feature which, along with an extremely mathematical mind, adds to his music's distinctive nature.

To catch a clearer glimpse of the method beneath the madness, take a listen to D (Dee Dee), Mahanthappa's take on a more traditionally oriented jazz tune; or better yet, check out the frankly beautiful ballad, My Sweetest, which closes out the album. It's a luscious piece of work, and in its own way brings the logic of Mahanthappa's work here full circle around the jazz perimeter. All in all, an excellent entry in the catalog of this exciting young composer/musician.

This album sounds sort of like someone shouting random math equations in a loud, harsh, obnoxious voice. There's some logic to what's being said but it's extremely unpleasant to listen to and what, ultimately, is the point?

This is the type of music that is created for both the musician and his few misguided fans to show how original, intellectual and "advanced" they are. The two parties form a small, self reinforcing feedback loop. You see, the more painfully pointless, atonal and awful the music is, the "smarter" it is. No one with an ounce of sense actually likes listening to it. If you want to clear a room in a hurry, put this on.

I bought this CD because I like some of Mahanthappa's work with Vijay Ayer. I'm disinclined to sample any of his other recordings. Ornette Coleman he ain't.

Here Mahanthappa, Iyer et al. issue an exercise in "applying cryptography to melody and rhythm," with results that are at times less musical than others, but after a few listens, the code cracks and the underlying structure and melody become more and more engaging. A lot of similarities with the collaboration of Coltrane and Tyner in the harmonies between the sax and piano, but the bass and drums differ drastically from the Jones/Garrison rhythm section of the 60s -- this is no wild and emotive rhythm section (though things get a little hairy at times) -- the drum and bass are VERY tightly controlled. Definitely worth repeat listening; Mahanthappa is the real deal. I haven't heard his other work, but will check some of his other albums out.

Jazz or world music or whatever? it's music this cd proves it...Music is the universal language of the world and Rudresh an Indian alto saxophonist had grasp the NY City scene with his interpretation of jazz...refreshing / innovative / interesting in short passionate...if you want to hear what others have in mind when it comes to jazz...go get the cd

This is the kind of music I have a problem with. It is passionate and knowledgeable and at the same time lopsided and self indulgent with an emotional impact a kin to spending the day with a screaming toddler. There is a lot of wonderful music out there and this ain't it. Pass.

I'm sorry, I tried to give it a fair shake -- in fact, after reading a positive review of Mahanthappa's quartet, I was excited to hear it -- but this is the kind of cacophonous doodlebugging that gives jazz, and jazz saxophonists in particular, a bad name. A painful experience for anyone who enjoys music constructed from rhythm, chords and melody that bear relation to one another. Please, O Muses, save jazz from the random noise brigade.