Rudresh Mahanthappa
Rudresh Mahanthappa (born May 4, 1971) is a New York-based jazz alto saxophonist and composer.
Rudresh Mahanthappa
Biography[edit]
Mahanthappa is the son of Indian emigrants to the U.S. He was born in Trieste, Italy as a result of his father's job in academia, but spent most of his life in Boulder, Colorado. He graduated from Fairview High School in 1988,[1] subsequently receiving a BM from the Berklee College of Music in 1992[2] and an MM in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University in 1998.[3]
After moving to New York City in 1997, he released the album Architextures with pianist Vijay Iyer. The two would continue to collaborate often, releasing the albums Black Water, Mother Tongue and Codebook with Mahanthappa's quartet, and Raw Materials as a duo.[4]
Manthappa is currently the Anthony P. Lee'79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University,[5] where he teaches improvisation and directs small groups. In 2019, he organized the first annual Princeton University Jazz Festival, which featured headliner Dave Holland along with other student and professional musicians.[6]
Groups[edit]
He leads or co-leads the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet (with Vijay Iyer or Craig Taborn on piano, François Moutin on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums), Raw Materials (with Vijay Iyer), Indo-Pak Coalition (with Rez Abbasi on sitar-guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla), MSG (with Ronan Guilfoyle on bass and Chander Sardjoe on drums), Dakshina Ensemble septet, and various groups playing under the label Dual Identity.
Awards and honors[edit]
Since 2003, Mahanthappa has been listed frequently in the Critics' Poll of Down Beat magazine. He was named both "No. 1 Rising Star Jazz Artist" and "No. 1 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist" in the 2010 poll.[9] In 2011, he was voted the No. 1 Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the 59th Annual Down Beat Critics' Poll.[10]
He was given a grant by the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Music (2006), three Rockefeller MAP grants, and two grants from the New York State Council on the Arts.
In 2007, he was named a Guggenheim fellow to pursue his interest in how carnatic music can inform and inspire American jazz.[11]
The Jazz Journalists Association named Mahanthappa Alto Saxophonist of the Year in 2009,[12] 2010,[13] and 2011.[14]