RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA’S Hero Trio

Description

Hailed by Pitchfork as “jaw-dropping… one of the finest saxophonists going,” alto saxophonist, composer and educator Rudresh Mahanthappa is widely known as one of the premier voices in jazz of the 21st century. He has over a dozen albums to his credit, including the acclaimed Bird Calls, which topped many critics’ best-of-year lists for 2015 and was hailed by PopMatters as “complex, rhythmically vital, free in spirit while still criss-crossed with mutating structures.” His album Hero Trio was considered to be one of the best jazz albums of 2020 by critics and fans alike. Rudresh has been named alto saxophonist of the year for nine of the last eleven years running in Downbeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Polls (2011-2013, 2015-2018, 2020-1), and for five consecutive years by the Jazz Journalists’ Association (2009-2013) and again in 2016. He won alto saxophonist of the year in the 2015-2018 & 2020 JazzTimes Magazine Critics’ Polls and was named the Village Voice’s "Best Jazz Artist" in 2015. He has also received the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, among other honors, and is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee ’79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University.

"Mahanthappa's trio convincingly puts a distinctive stamp on the eclectic source material, with sparkling cocktails of hooks, groove and solos that unfurl in structures that can be straight and not so straight." Jazzwise Magazine (Editor's Choice)

Saxophonist Darren WIlliams will perform an opening set of original solo compositions. Darren Williams is a Canadian saxophonist/bassoonist who pushes the limits of extended instrumental technique into regions that are lyrical, terrifying, uncanny, and “more fun than spiked punch live” (Georgia Straight). Called “a raw, vocal explorer,” (Stuart Broomer) Darren has performed with Eugene Chadbourne, Chad van Gaalen, John Oswald, Mats Gustafsson, Han Bennink, and many others.