Saturday April 21, 2010
10pm
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
New York, NY
Ranked #7 in Jazz Albums of 2011, Denver Post
Ranked #8 in the 2011 Rhapsody.com Jazz Critics Poll
Ranked #9 in Jazz Albums of 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer
Ranked #11 in the 2011 JazzTimes Critics Poll
“With this new band (and on the album of the same name),
the alto saxophonist Mahanthappa merges his own Indo-jazz fusion
with swaths of electrified domestic fusion. The result is effective and bracing.”
- Steve Futterman, The New Yorker
“There’s a broad current flowing from the subcontinent here, evident in the
sinuous melodic line of a song like “Playing with Stones,” or the
mridangam and kanjira playing of the percussionist Anantha Krishnan.”
- Nate Chinen, New York Times
“an irresistible momentum that carries along motifs taken from here and there…but all of Mahanthappa’s interests jostle one another throughout the album, subsumed in the rippling silk of his saxophone timbre.” – Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post (CD review)
“The compositions artfully blend knotty subcontinental rhythms and modern jazz harmonies, with a dash of bluesy honking thrown in for good measure.”
- Aaron Leitko, The Washington Post (show review)
“Manhanthappa’s reverse engineering of his Indo-American heritage…is only one element that has distinguished his growing prominence over the last few years. The other is his breathtaking sound and inventiveness as an alto saxophonist.“
- Jon Garelick, The Boston Phoenix
“If there’s such a thing as accessible avant-garde music, this is it.”
- Bret Saunders, The Denver Post
“One of the more consistently innovative and restless creators currently
at work in New York…a kinetic mix of heady jazz, electronica and elements
from Indian traditional styles.”
