The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mahanthappa, Rudresh: Codebook (Pi Recordings)


 

Price: $14.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:


product information:

Personnel:



Rudresh Mahanthappa-alto saxophone

Vijay Iyer-piano

François Moutin-acoustic bass

Dan Weiss-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: PI 21
Squidco Product Code: 7041

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2006
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Alto sax player Rudresh Mahanthappa's second release on Pi is a studio set of a quartet setting with the excellent NY pianist Vijay Iyer, taking on the subject of cryptography.

"Once again the outside world has provided a launching point and a system of order to draw from for Rudresh. The music on Codebook stems from ideas and concepts related to cryptography. The varied systems provided the groundwork for Rudresh to approach the DNA of the compositions from fresh and previously unexplored angles. A standard could be transformed into an entirely fresh piece, a melody conceived by encoding words or phrases, and cyclic rhythms reorganized by way of a cipher. All of this is to say that another structure of order has been applied to music, but has been done so with such care and thought that the result sounds in no way formulated. As with all of Rudresh's music, the final product is quite surprising and intuitive. You can hear it in a track like "Play It Again Sam", dedicated to Samuel Morse, where Rudresh opens and closes playing what could easily be Morse code. "D (Dee-Dee)" moves with a hint of a hard bop swing reoriented for a new audience. These pieces are just some examples of how the music never comes off sounding rigid or pastiche but instead as examples of a composer's hand deftly working within a system and creating something entirely organic.

Evident throughout Codebook is Rudresh's sense of humor. From the titles of the pieces, to song structure, to group interplay and beyond, the music on Codebook lives and breathes in a new way. The "Decider" kicks off with a line as twisted as the logic of the person who inspired the title. "Enhanced Performance" is just that. Without the help of any illegal musical substances, the group locks into a groove and never lets go. "Further and In Between" continues this muscular sound by beginning with a driving bass figure, that with the help of new drummer Dan Weiss, launches the band into one of its trademark powerful attacks. The CD's nine tracks showcase the band's handle of this tricky material and further emphasize why they are one of the today's most creative and forward looking quartets.

Throughout the CD all of the hallmarks of Rudresh's sound are present, his slightly tart tone, his complexly intertwined, but always logical, lines and his unique rhythmic sense. What is more present though, is the space in the music. Pieces such as "Play It Again Sam", feature an openness between the individual musicians that was not as pronounced in previous recordings. The momentum of the music is now a gradual process. "Frontburner's" duo opening is made all the more gripping by its harmonic bareness. From section to section within a single piece, there is a thoughtfulness and maturity evident in the music that speaks to the relationship between the band and the trust placed in them by Rudresh. A soulfulness permeates this music that was not as evident in the past."-Pi Recordings


Artist Biographies

"Born in Trieste, Italy to Indian émigrés in 1971, Mahanthappa was brought up in Boulder, Colorado and gained proficiency playing everything from current pop to Dixieland. He went on to studies at North Texas, Berklee and DePaul University (as well as the Stanford Jazz Workshop) and came to settle in Chicago. Soon after moving to New York in 1997 he formed his own quartet featuring pianist Vijay Iyer. The band recorded an enduring sequence of albums, Black Water, Mother Tongue and Codebook, each highlighting Mahanthappa's inventive methodologies and deeply personal approach to composition. He and Iyer also formed the duo Raw Materials.

Coming deeper into contact with the Carnatic music of his parents' native southern India, Mahanthappa partnered in 2008 with fellow altoist Kadri Gopalnath and the Dakshina Ensemble for Kinsmen, garnering wide acclaim. Apti, the first outing by Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition (with Pakistani-born Rez Abbasi on guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla), saw release the same year; Agrima followed nine years later and considerably expanded the trio's sonic ambitions.

Mahanthappa has also worked with Jack DeJohnette, Mark Dresser, Danilo Pérez, Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, the collaborative trios MSG and Mauger, the co-led quintet Dual Identity with fellow altoist Steve Lehman, and another co-led quintet with fellow altoist and Chicago stalwart Bunky Green (Apex). His exploratory guitar-driven quartets on Samdhi and Gamak featured David Gilmore and Dave "Fuze" Fiuczynski, respectively. In 2015 he was commissioned by Ragamala Dance to create Song of the Jasmine for dancers and a hybrid jazz/South Indian ensemble. He was also commissioned by the PRISM Saxophone Quartet to compose a chamber piece, "I Will Not Apologize for My Tone Tonight," which can be heard on the quartet's 2015 double-disc release Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1."

-Rudresh Mahanthappa Website (https://www.rudreshm.com/about)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Described by The New York Times as a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway," VIJAY IYER has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music. A composer and pianist active across multiple musical communities, Iyer has created a consistently innovative, emotionally resonant body of work over the last twenty-five years, earning him a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation.

He received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, the Alpert Award in the Arts, and two German "Echo" awards, and was voted Downbeat Magazine's Jazz Artist of the Year four times in the last decade. He has been praised by Pitchfork as "one of the best in the world at what he does," by the Los Angeles Weekly as "a boundless and deeply important young star," and by Minnesota Public Radio as "an American treasure."

Iyer's musical language is grounded in the rhythmic traditions of South Asia and West Africa, the African American creative music movement of the 60s and 70s, and the lineage of composer-pianists from Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen. He has released twenty-four albums of his music, most recently UnEasy (ECM Records, 2021), a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh; The Transitory Poems (ECM, 2019), a live duo recording with pianist Craig Taborn; Far From Over (ECM, 2017) with the award-winning Vijay Iyer Sextet; and A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (ECM, 2016) a suite of duets with visionary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.

Iyer is also an active composer for classical ensembles and soloists. His works have been commissioned and premiered by Brentano Quartet, Imani Winds, Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and virtuosi Matt Haimowitz, Claire Chase, Shai Wosner, and Jennifer Koh, among others. He recently served as composer-in-residence at London's Wigmore Hall, music director of the Ojai Music Festival, and artist-in-residence at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A tireless collaborator, he has written big-band music for Arturo O'Farrill and Darcy James Argue, remixed classic recordings of Talvin Singh and Meredith Monk, joined forces with legendary musicians Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Zakir Hussain, and L. Subramanian, and developed interdisciplinary work with Teju Cole, Carrie Mae Weems, Mike Ladd, Prashant Bhargava, and Karole Armitage.

A longtime New Yorker, Iyer lives in central Harlem with his wife and daughter. He teaches at Harvard University in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies. He is a Steinway artist."

-Vijay Iyer Website (https://vijay-iyer.com/about/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Shifting Foundation grantee Dan Weiss has been hailed as one of the top five jazz drummers in The New York Times, and his large ensemble recording "Fourteen" made the top ten list of their best recordings of 2014. Weiss's innovative drumming and forward thinking compositions have been pushing musical limits for years.

With his piano trio, he's released two recordings entitled, "Now Yes When" (2006) and "Timshel" (2011), which have been critically acclaimed for their unique approach to song structure and endless creative improvisation. Weiss also leads his sixteen piece large ensemble that features some of NYC's most gifted musicians. The two albums " Fourteen" (2014) and "Sixteen: Drummers Suite" (2016) released on the Pi record label have made numerous critic polls. His newest project features Craig Taborn, Matt Mitchell, Ben Monder, and Trevor Dunn and is an amalgam of jazz, metal, and new music. The recording will be released on the Pi record label in the Spring of 2018.

Weiss has been studying tabla under Pandit Samir Chatterjee for twenty years. He has performed with the legendary Ashish Khan and Ramesh Misra and recorded a solo tabla cd "3dcd" (2007). Weiss recorded two groundbreaking cds "Teental Drumset Solo" (2005) and "Jhaptal Drumset Solo" (2011) where he performs classical Indian repertoire on drum set.

Weiss was named 'The Top Up and Coming Percussionist' 2 years in a row in the 60th and 61st annual Downbeat's Critic's Poll and earned a spot in Modern Drummer's coveted Top 5 Jazz Drummers of 2014."

-Dan Weiss Website (https://www.danweiss.net/about-1/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. The Decider

2. Refresh

3. Enhanced Performance

4. Further and In Between

5. Play It Again Sam

6. Frontburner

7. D (Dee-Dee)

8. Wait It Through

9. My Sweetest

Related Categories of Interest:

Pi Records
Improvised Music
Jazz
NY Downtown & Jazz/Improv
November 2006
Quartet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Pi Recordings.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Dessen, Michael Trio
Somewhere In The Upstream
(Clean Feed)
Blending the acoustic aspects of his regularly performing trio with unusual electronics, trombonist Michael Dessen's NY trio with bassist Christopher Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss carve out a unique territory that balances lyrical, aggressive, and swinging aspects of free jazz with other-worldly interactions, in an album honoring late saxophonist Yusef Lateef.
ElSaffar, Amir
Alchemy
(Pi Recordings)
The latest chapter in trumpeter Amir ElSaffar's continuing investigation into the tonal systems of Middle Eastern cultures within a jazz context, in a quintet with Ole Mathisen (sax), John Escreet (piano), Francois Moutin (bass) & Dan Weiss (drums).
ElSaffar, Amir
Inana
(Pi Recordings)
Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and his quintet expand the sonic possibilities of jazz by building on the modal music of the Iraqi maqam, adding a microtonal harmonic and melodic language influenced by the pitch-flexibility of Middle Eastern music.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Fox, Danny
Wide Eyed
(Hot Cup Records)
Pianist Danny Fox's trio with bassist Chris van Voorst van Beest and drummer Max Goldman in an album showing how the tight rapport this touring band has developed on the road, performing Fox's melodic and inventive compositions with a wealth of influences and style.
Lehman, Steve Trio, feat. Matt Brewer and Damion Reid
Dialect Fluorescent
(Pi Recordings)
With his new trio with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid, saxophonist Lehman combines his own original compositions with a full program of works by jazz legends like John Coltrane and Jackie McLean.
Halvorson, Mary Quintet
Saturn Sings
(Firehouse 12 Records)
Halvorson's quintet in a new book of music exploring close knit and dissonant harmonies for her ensemble of trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, saxophonist Jon Irabagon, bassist John Hebert & drummer Ches Smith.
Mezei Solo, Szilard
When Spring
(Not Two)
Solo viola and double bass compositions from Voivodina Hungarian composer, violinist, viola player, and double bass player Szilárd Mezei.
Nono, Luigi
20 Jahre Inventionen V
(Edition Rz)
Three compositions by Luigi Nono, recorded at the Berlin festival "Inventionen", live electronics moving away from clear spatial and timbral assignations rendering the acoustic instruments barely recognizable.
Niggli, Lucas / Big Zoom
Celebrate Diversity
(Intakt)
PUNCK (Zanni / Adrianno)
A Constant Migration (Between Reality and Fiction)
(Creative Sources)
Kasyansky, Grundik
Light and Roundchair
(Creative Sources)
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Sirius Calling
(Pi Recordings)
Maneri / Morris / Maneri
Out Right Now
(Hatology)



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC