Saturday, December 3rd 2011, 8PM
(from left to right: Rez Abbasi, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dan Weiss)
Photo credit: Jordan Hemingway
The Indo-Pak Coalition, led by critically-acclaimed Indian-American saxophonist and Guggenheim fellow Rudresh Mahanthappa, with Pakistani-American guitar virtuoso Rez Abbasi and rising tabla star Dan Weiss, synthesizes jazz with the astutely improvised musical forms of South Asia, transcending any preconception of Indo-jazz fusion. This ambitious trio will be appearing on December 3rd at the Flushing Town Hall.
Their groundbreaking debut album, Apti (Innova, 2008), reached #1 on the JazzWeek World Music radio charts and enjoyed long stints in the top ten of the JazzWeek Jazz, CMJ Jazz, and ChartAttackradio charts. Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and Downbeat among others have raved about both the ensemble and the album.
Apti clearly blazes new trails into the future of jazz in the 21st Century. While most attempts to engage jazz and South Asian music often feel incoherent, with musicians from neither side able to comfortably bridge the musical divide, the music on Apti transcends any previous notion of ‘Indo-Jazz fusion’. In melding Indian concepts of melody and rhythm with his inventive style as a jazz composer and improviser, Mahanthappa has masterfully provided a compositional context that has brought out spectacular interplay within the ensemble. Apti is a major achievement in cross-cultural musical creativity and a landmark contribution to modern music that bears no precedent.
***
“In this stark, dynamic trio of alto sax, guitar and tabla, Mahanthappa’s horn does heavy lifting, fusing the raga-sitar aspirations of late-period Coltrane and the vocal flight of Karnatic hymns.” -Rolling Stone
“At various points, the Indo-Pak Coalition sounds like an Asian answer to Steely Dan, while at others Mahanthappa’s compositions coil and uncoil, building and revealing drama not unlike soundtrack music. Of course, this is all part of the hybridity that Mahanthappa is going for, and his hunger for new sounds is no-doubt fueling his growing reputation as one of jazz’s leading lights.” -New York Press
“With [Apti], alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahant-happa approaches the cross-pollination of Indian music and jazz from yet another angle…Mahanthappa’s vision succeeds again.” -JazzTimes
“Mahanthappa is heralding a new reality in jazz, where the music exists on equal footing with another hearty tradition, and something genuinely new results.” -Downbeat
“[Rudresh Mahanthappa's "Indo-Pak Coalition"] featuring Rez Abbasi on guitar/sitar and Dan Weiss on tablas, is less about texture and more about the individual players and the interaction of their individual lines. The Indo-Pak Coalition is ready and able to pull from every area of jazz, finding it a simple matter to draw from whatever bag gives the music a good ride.” -PopMatters
***
Rez Abbasi – Guitar / Sitar-guitar
Dan Weiss – Tabla
Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11354
30% Off!
To receive this offer, mention the code “EB2011″
(excluding table package)
Buy tickets now!
