Posts Tagged ‘Rudresh Mahanthappa’

4 Starters

Posted: March 20, 2014 in Music
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And so like Robert the Bruce’s spider, I’m back once again climbing the wall…of sound. Although in my observation of spiders, that one of legend must’ve been pretty high to fall so many times. Scotch, you say? That wouldn’t be surprising. Anyway, I usually write this blog during periods of sobriety and so hopefully unlike the spider, I won’t have to make 8 attempts to make this stick.

How do any of you cotton on to a song or album that you end up liking and/or buying with little or no prior knowledge of the musician and his/her music other than having read about or heard mention of said artist? (more…)

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Blow’n’ Away

Posted: February 5, 2013 in Music
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Gamak

Just a month into the year and we’re already hearing some terrific new music. I don’t easily get excited by musical sound these days. Maybe because I’ve become somewhat of a jaded listener. But the new album ‘Gamak’ by the Italy-born US-based jazz saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa has got this old dog’s ears all perked up. Mahanthappa has become one of the most acclaimed alto saxophonists of recent times. His sense of melody in a lethal combination with free experimentalism reminds me a bit of John Coltrane. A series of excellent albums finds its current peak in ‘Gamak’. The quartet of musicians on this one replaces the piano with the guitar. Mahanthappa’s band-mate in the Jack DeJohnette Group, guitarist David Fiuczynski forms a brilliant, fiery musical partnership with the saxophonist and Dan Weiss on the drums and bassist Francois Moutin lay the perfect rhythm foundation for the other two to explode. (more…)