Jazz Meets South Indian Classical Music

New York-based alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa will be appearing with the Dakshina Ensemble at the Freer and Sackler Galleries’ Meyer Auditorium this Saturday, an event described as an “innovative encounter between musical cultures.”

Mahanthappa has made several recordings with pianist Vijay Iyer, two of which have been reviewed in City Paper (Reimagining and Raw Materials) .

Here’s what Christopher Porter had to say about Mahanthappa’s Black Water when he highlighted it in his 2002 jazz roundup:

Personal politics also have a place on alto saxophonist Mahanthappa’s Black Water, which addresses the Indian diaspora. Mahanthappa explores his heritage with a jazz quartet alone, opting not to add obvious decorations such as sitar and tabla to his hard-edged post-bop sound. Why should he? Sax, piano, bass, and drums are all he needs to make his musical point.

Here’s the YouTube tour preview video.

And here’s the band:

Kadri Gopalnath - Alto Saxophone
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Alto Saxophone
A. Kanyakumari - Violin
Rez Abbasi - Guitar/Sitar - Guitar
Carlo De Rosa - Acoustic Bass
Poovalur Sriji - Mridangam
Royal Hartigan - Drums

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Jazz, Show Alert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.