by John MacCalkies
Still a pup at age 28 (though "much older in dog years" he emphasizes), alto sax prodigy Rudresh Mahanthappa has been around the block.
Born in Trieste, Italy, son of an Indian immigrant physics professor, he was raised in Colorado, went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and then in 1993 took a Masters degree in composition at Depaul University. After four years of heavy participation in Chicago's jazz scene, he relocated to Brooklyn and pitched himself into the rat race.
The move was logical since Rudy was blowing at a different level of intensity to many of his confrres in Chi-town. His style was (coincident with the strong self-produced rookie release "Yatra" from 1994), closest to Bunky Green in its impassioned loquaciousness and harmonic/rhythmic daring. It also possessed the relentless drive of Kenny Garrett or, recalling an earlier era, Sonny Criss. Rudy's uninhibited commitment is transparent. During a solo his eyes will roll up behind their lids ( la George Adams) as he abandons himself to dense scholastical, sometimes timbrally audacious ruminations.
Though clearly an outstanding talent, there was a sense that it wouldn't all be ice cream for Rudy: Despite kinship with the Steve Coleman/Greg Osby M-Base clique, his torrential chops allied to pretty boy looks didn't yet seem to have a peg on which to hang.
Sure enough, when he hit New York, times were tough."The first year's a bitch. I had connections but no really good friends, which didn't make it easy. The hardest thing was figuring out where I fit in, because hanging at these late night sessions at Small's and Visiones didn't turn out the greatest way to meet people. The axis was very straightahead, hardbop oriented and I got the same funny looks I remembered when I first played in Chicago."
He began attending sessions held at musicians houses, but experienced similar lukewarm reception. Is he referring to some kind of loft scene?
"Well the loft thing doesn't really happen anymore but someone will have a basement, a rehearsal space or live in an apartment block where everyone except the musicians goes out during daytime. It's usually a drummer. Drummers find somewhere they can make a noise, then they invite everyone round. But generally in jazz these days so many things are pick up situations, and most so-called bands get to rehearse for the first time the day before the gig."
While awaiting the right chemistry to concoct his own group, Rudy did some freelancing. He fronted an organ trio at the Knitting Factory alongside Greg Osby, recorded with pianist Vijay Iyer and subbed for Billy Drewes in the Village Vanguard Orchestra. "It was a trip playing in the Vanguard band. You play that music your whole life, through college, even in high school big bands, then you sit in the saxophone section and it's like "Oh my god, these are the guys on the record!"
In NY, however, you have to do more than watch for the phone to shake.
"The two ballbusters are rent and the sheer volume of people you have to deal with. The first month I was there I had to stand in six different lines to mend a broken light switch, an errand that would take a half hour in Chicago. But you can't beat the selection of everything else. You get spoiled fast living amongst so many world class musicians. In Chicago it's like 'Wow, Joe Lovano's coming to the Jazz Showcase, I'd better get down there,' whereas in New York I can see Lovano playing in six or seven different projects, three of those aren't even his own and all are combinations you'll never hear live in Chicago."
Rudy's own playing has received endorsements from such seasoned souls as Lovano, Ernie Watts and David Liebman, who wrote liner notes for "Yatra." But getting namechecks don't pay bills, and after firing out 250 rsums, he landed a part-time teaching job at a wealthy private school an hour from Manhattan (multi-millionaire Kenneth Cole's daughter is currently one of his students). With a strong foothold beneath him, he went out and roped together a group which has been playing every month at two East Village clubs, the Internet Cafe and Detour. The band features guitarists Ben Monder or Liberty Ellman, bassists Dennis Irwin or Francois Moutin and "a really great drummer from California," Elliot Kavee. But Rudy is most eager to bag a deal for the Indo-Pak fusion group he co-leads with Fareed Haque. Being in New York is useful in that he can now get an office audience at certain labels, rather than mail the demo and call every day. The Indo-Pak trio will perform in the fall with none other than Samir Chatterjee, Ravi Shankar's tabla player"a huge deal" says Rudy.
"The Indian vibe is becoming a big thing for me, I'm still doing odd-metered stuff, but the concept is based on rhythm implied by the melody rather than counting to seven again and again. It's the way the beat is regarded in West Africa and India. I see correlation between jazz and Indian music and it relates psychologically to how I view my own hybrid heritage. For me, mixing Indian with American traditions is fascinating and can in some ways be therapeutic."
Rudresh Mahanthappa plays August 6 at the Green Mill, 4802 North Broadway, (773)878-5552.
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.