Label: Whirlwind Recordings, 2020

Personnel - Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone; François Moutin: bass; Rudy Royston: drums.

Possessing a sui-generis improvisational style, altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa is known as one of the most powerful forces in today’s jazz. On his latest recording, Hero Trio, he performs in trio format, basking in a collection of nine familiar non-originals that includes jazz standards, bebop and post-bop hits, and - surprise! - an R&B and a country-pop song by Stevie Wonder and Johnny Cash, respectively. For this purpose, Mahanthappa enlisted his longtime associates - bassist François Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston - paying homage to his influences and inspirations with able arrangements of his own, and that constant, impulsive spontaneity that has been stamping his discography.

Navigating meters with an extraordinary fluidity, the trio brings Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” to life with a gifted arrangement by Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, with whom Mahanthappa has collaborated in duo format. The joyous melody slides over the shifting harmonic landscape suggested by Moutin, who, together with Royston’s sturdy versatility, shapes the song’s foundation with brilliancy. And then, the saxophonist gets complex phrases off the ground by interlacing long sequences of notes with momentum.

Both the irresistibly kinetic “The Windup” by Keith Jarrett, here transformed into a successful piano-less effort, and Ornette Coleman’s “Sadness”, which ends as abstractly as it began with resonant bowed bass and deep mallet drumming, were unaltered in their original forms.

Two Charlie Parker tunes bookend the album. If the closer, “Dewey Square”, only surprises partially, then “Red Cross” is subjected to an explosive reading by the trio, opening the session with the saxophonist taking its bebop vibe a few steps further by weaving in and out with logic and determination over a swinging pulse. The rhythm section is exemplary and, before concluding, the drummer trades bars with his trio mates. Parker is evoked once again, but this time he brings Coltrane with him, in a malleable, groovy collage of “Barbados” by the former and “26-2” by the latter, which happens to be a contrafact of Bird’s “Confirmation”.

Both widely known, “I Can’t Get Started” and “I’ll Remember April” are carried out with different postures. The former, more meditative, is delivered in five and exhibits an incantatory way of breathing, whereas the latter returns to that soulful ebullience that Mahanthappa often presents us with.

This is a trio of shifting texture and smart rapport.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Red Cross ► 04 - I Can’t Get Started ► 05 - The Windup

Label/Year: Self produced, 2017

Lineup - Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone, electronics; Rez Abbasi: guitar; Dan Weiss: drums, tabla.

Fiery New York-based saxophonist/composer of Indian descent, Rudresh Mahanthappa, has risen to the jazz stardom by cultivating an impressive, unique sound that hallucinates and transfixes.

Besides the successful early partnership with pianist Vijay Iyer (Black Water; Mother Tongue; Codebook), a memorable collaboration with saxophonist Steve Lehman (Dual Identity), and an explorative original work with Charlie Parker's music as the central focus (Bird Calls), Mahanthappa formed the Indo-Pak Coalition, project with Pakistani-born guitarist Rez Abbasi and drummer Dan Weiss, an expert in Indian percussion.

Agrima, his freshest work, features this groundbreaking trio successfully resurfacing Eastern roots and traditions in order to fuse them with the most desirable improvised jazz. This is their sophomore album and a comfortable improvement regarding the debut CD Apti.

The airy, country-like atmosphere of “Alap”, the opening track, surprises due to an indolent predisposition that is not so habitual in Mahanthappa’s compositions. Restraining impetuousness in favor of a more cerebral approach, the saxophonist exhibits a distinguishable coordination with Abbasi on “Snap”, where they follow the steps of each other whether by echoing the theme’s melodic statement or engaging in ephemeral unisons. Abbasi’s textures fascinate, covered in distortion and often enriched with rock-ish riffs on the bottom register. As the guitar solo begins, Weiss switches the tabla for the drum kit, building a more robust foundation with the help of saxophone drones, which compensate the absence of harmony. Close to the finale, a cyclic harmonic progression runs on top of an animated rock pulse.

Predominantly folk, the westerner “Showcase” displays bluesy melodic phrases over a restricted harmonic movement. The band explores alternative sonorities as the time passes, opening up a space for Weiss’ polyrhythmic explorations.

“Agrima”, the title track, lives from electronic stimulus to incur on an indie folk rock whose syncopated rhythm variates more than once. Again, Abbasi romps off on an abrasive improvisation that reveals all his forthrightness and confidence.

There’s plenty of bite in the bandleader’s horn on the elastic “Rasikapriya”. An early entrancing tabla soon gives its place to a brawny rock drumming after a rare abstract middle passage.

The 14-minute “Revati” departs from Abbasi’s spatial intro, which resorts to harmonics, low-pitched notes, and synth-like surroundings, to guide us toward pop/rock harmonic zones using folk jazz dialects as vehicles.

Mahanthappa closes the record with the edgy “Take-Turns”, where the splendid timbres, vertiginous language, and irreverence that made him a stalwart in the bolder side of the jazz spectrum mingles with nifty guitar chops and occasional, never-obfuscatory electronic sounds.
There’s never a dull moment in this world fusion celebration.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Snap ► 06 - Rasikapriya ► 08 - Take-Turns