Rudresh Mahanthappa

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa reached New York City from Boulder, Colorado, in 1997 and promptly embedded himself in the local jazz community through sideman engagements. His singular tone equaled the scope of his projects, which fused modernist jazz with South Indian music and electronic textures according to whichever group he led. Born in Trieste, Italy, he relocated with his family to Boulder, where he grew up in Colorado before taking up the saxophone during his teenage years. He pursued formal training at Berklee College of Music in Boston and later at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.

Although sideman opportunities arrived consistently once he settled in New York, Mahanthappa’s goal remained fronting his own ensembles, a step he took with the debut album Yatra. Critical approval followed, yet restricted distribution limited broader notice, prompting him to remain active on the local circuit. Additional freelance work and a teaching position occupied his schedule until 2002, when he recorded Black Water for Red Giant Records and began attracting wider attention.

His association with Pi Recordings started in 2004 with the trio release Mother Tongue, which featured pianist Vijay Iyer and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee. In 2006 he and Iyer issued the duo album Raw Materials; several months afterward the quartet Codebook appeared, again with Iyer plus bassist François Moutin and drummer Dan Weiss, earning year-end recognition from numerous publications. A Guggenheim Fellowship for composition arrived in 2007. The 2008 recording Kinsmen, uniting Mahanthappa with Carnatic saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath and the Dakshina Ensemble that included guitarist Rez Abbasi, blended electric jazz and South Indian traditions and became one of his most influential statements. Abbasi and Weiss subsequently formed the core of the Indo-Pak Coalition, whose debut Apti appeared late that year; the group performed at clubs and festivals worldwide.

Mahanthappa also performed with Jack DeJohnette’s ensemble and concluded his Pi tenure in 2010 by co-leading Apex with Bunky Green, a date that included DeJohnette, pianist Jason Moran, and drummer Damion Reid. That same year Clean Feed issued the co-led project Dual Identity with Steve Lehman, again featuring Reid. Signing with ACT in 2011, Mahanthappa released Samdhi, an electro-acoustic quintet session on which he played both laptop and alto saxophone alongside guitarist David Gilmore, electric bassist Rich Brown, drummer Reid, and “Anand” Anatha Krishman on mridangam and kanjira. Gamak followed in 2013, recorded with Weiss, Moutin, and guitarist David Fiuczynski; Jazz Times characterized it as “a landmark convergence of styles that didn’t lend itself to easy analysis…new music of this caliber hasn’t been attempted before.”

This period marked the height of Mahanthappa’s recognition: beyond the Guggenheim, he received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship along with commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, Chamber Music America, and the American Composers Forum. Down Beat’s International Critics Poll named him alto saxophonist of the year for three consecutive seasons (2011–2013), while the Jazz Journalists Association awarded him the same honor for five straight years (2009–2013). In April 2013 he was granted a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. For the 2015 acoustic quintet album Bird Calls he retained only Moutin from prior lineups, adding pianist Matt Mitchell, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, and drummer Rudy Royston. Also in 2015 he appeared on the Innova Recordings release Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 1 as a member of the ten-piece PRISM Quartet. The balance of the year found him touring with his own groups and writing new material. In fall 2017 the second Indo-Pak Coalition album, Agrima—again featuring Abbasi and Weiss—was issued on his own label in vinyl and digital formats only and was featured as an NPR First Listen. Mahanthappa serves as chairman of the jazz department at Princeton University.