Mother Tongue

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 2004)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pi Recordings
• ASIN: B0002ZDWFS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,143 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Preserver

2. English

3. Kannada

4. Gujarati

5. Telugu

6. Circus

7. Konkani

8. Tamil

9. Malayalam

10. Change of Perspective

Editorial Reviews

New York Times

"This alto player has a tone like iron and charges from 0 80 in about four seconds..."

Product Description

Commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts, the music on Mother Tongue presents Rudresh Mahanthappa's engagement with the varied languages of India. Often asked the question, "Do you speak Indian?" or "Do you speak Hindu?" Mahanthappa has created compositions that are directly based on melodic transcriptions of Indian-Americans responding to such questions in their native Indian tongues. The astounding results make up the core of this CD from one of the most original voices in jazz today.

A 2003 and 2004 recipient of the Down Beat International Critics Poll Rising Star on the alto saxophone award, Mahanthappa came to New York in 1997. His performances with his trio and quartet, as well as his work with Vijay Iyer, his partner in musical advancement, has helped to put Mahanthappa at the forefront of the New York scene. He has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and American Composers Forum for music that resulted in 2002’s critically heralded Black Water. There are few cities in the world that are known for producing some of the brightest minds in music. Right now in New York, there is no one making a bigger impact than Mahanthappa. Mother Tongue is the album that will introduce him to a wider audience.

Each track embodies an unprecedented level of communication both through composition and improvisation. Mahanthappa's blazing yet thoughtful solos are elevated by the rest of the quartet consisting of Vijay Iyer (piano), François Moutin (bass) and Elliot Humberto Kavee (drums), a rhythm section that is clearly setting the pace for jazz in New York. In particular, "The Preserver," "Kannada," "Gujarati" and "Change Of Perspective" showcase this band's enchanting ability to paint thought-provoking musical paintings over remarkably different rhythmic and harmonic landscapes. Mother Tongue embraces jazz through Mahanthappa’s past. In the end, it will prove to be the path for his future.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still on a roll, December 11, 2004

By	N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Vijay Iyer have been making a lot of waves in recent years, & this album continues an excellent run of discs. Mahanthappa's cool-yet-intense alto sax is straight out of Steve Coleman & Greg Osby, & yet he's already become a highly distinctive player. Most of the tunes on _Mother Tongue_ are bogglingly complex lines that derive from the recorded speech patterns of various languages spoken in India (including English)--a strategy that seems to be increasingly common (Jason Moran did it on _The Bandwagon_ & Greg Burk has a track using the speech-rhythms of Italian on his new disc _Carpe Momentum_). The results range from hot to blistering--but are also rather elegant. Drummer Elliott Humberto Kavee is suitably complex but doesn't overdo things, & Iyer is surprisingly delicate at times.

This one's grown on me a bit: it's perhaps not as immediately gripping as Iyer's most recent quartet disc (the remarkable _Blood Sutra_), & as often with this corner of the music I feel there's a certain lack of humour, but this is nonetheless a very satisfying album. There's a nice touch at the end of the album: Mahanthappa appends a tape collage of all the snippets of speech from which he derived the compositions. It's amazing to think that such furiously intelligent & passionate music could come out of everyday speech.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Post M-Base funk, November 3, 2004

By	Troy Collins (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa's latest release is a concept album pleasantly devoid of the sort of baggage that can sink most similar projects. "Mother Tongue" is Rudresh's musical interpretation of the varied dialects spoken in India and his attempt to remove the assertion that it is a nation of but a single cultural identity. Although it seems quite a bit to try and address in a jazz album, it works in the way it is approached, which is to say that the vocal concepts are addressed instrumentally, allowing for listener interpretation.

Rudresh's quartet follows the standard acoustic framework of a traditional jazz quartet: piano, bass, drums and saxophone. But his rhythmic excursions are based more on Steve Coleman's recent M-Base innovations more than traditional swing. Taking a cue from similar artists like Coleman and Greg Osby, Rudresh applies the same sort of metrically fractured logic to his own compositions. There are times during more heated moments, such as on "The Preserver" when it sounds as though all four players are racing along a different track, headed in similar directions but at different paces. It sounds like a sonically concrete funk version of what Anthony Braxton's multi-player compositional models have aspired to.

Although M-Base laced funk dominates this session, complete with double bass drum fills and swirling vocalized saxophone lines, there is a tender side to the album as well. A few well placed ballads emerge to demonstrate Rudresh's more sensitive side. Overall a thrilling ride from an up and coming artist. He's definitely one to keep an eye (ear) on.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, August 26, 2005

By	Nathan Alexander - See all my reviews

For such an original work, it is truly amazing that this music is played with such confidence. Musically, the harmonic textures and rhythmic usage are simply astounding. Also, this album does not merely stand as a studio album, but his quartet is able to pull off the music to an even more impressive degree when playing live. For any jazz listener interested in contemporary works that stand as fine works of art, this album must be added to your collection.