Mahanthappa picks Indian music

March 9, 2009 11:47 PM

Destination: Out, an astounding mp3 blog devoted to mostly out-of-print free jazz and improv records, has been linked a few times on Ask, but never gotten the main-page exposure it deserves. Until now. The editors' selections are always interesting and written about well, and they're ready to go to the mat for the music. (The interview with Marsalis by the Bad Plus to which that's a response is also well worth reading.) But the real impetus for this post is only tangentially related to jazz: recently they got saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa to do a guest post on Indian (mostly Carnatic) music, and it won't be long before the links expire. Fall to!

Another tangent: Mahanthappa's frequent collaborator Vijay Ayer somewhat recently Andrew Hill tunes jazz.com. No downloads here, alas.

posted by kenko (18 comments total)

Obviously, the link for Rudresh should be like so.
posted by kenko at 11:47 PM on March 9

Wow. Just - wow. That 'go to the mat' link was already the best thing I've read on jazz in years, easily. Thanks.
posted by koeselitz at 1:07 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

And man, are The Bad Plus awesome, or what?
posted by koeselitz at 1:09 AM on March 10

great post, thanks.
posted by Substrata at 1:49 AM on March 10

Brilliant, ta v much!
posted by Wolof at 3:19 AM on March 10

"A friend of mine who I met through a weekly Dixieland jam session turned me on to Ravi Shankar’s The Sounds of India. "
That was probably the first and last time that sentence has ever been used.
posted by horsemuth at 3:20 AM on March 10

muchas gracias!
posted by jammy at 4:20 AM on March 10

Thanks for this. Rudresh Mahanthappa was also profiled in the New Yorker recently.
posted by roombythelake at 4:20 AM on March 10

Your timing is perfect, thank you so much for this post.

Last week, one of my auction scores was a box of records. Inexplicably, tucked in amongst a stack of REO Speedwagon, Eagles, and Alan Parsons Project albums, was a mid-1960s album by Ustad Akbar Ali Khan (Nusrat's father) in beautiful condition. This album blew me away and has sent me scurrying to learn learn more about Indian music.

That piece of saxophone music by Kadri Golpanath linked in the blogpost has just shown me that I haven't even scratched the surface. INCREDIBLE.
posted by the bricabrac man at 5:10 AM on March 10

This is great. Thanks for sharing.
Funny fact: my friend Mike has been hosting a weekly free jazz and improv show named...wait for it..."Destination Out" on Central Michigan's public radio station for quite a few years now. Listen to it live, Sunday nights, 11:00 Eastern time.
posted by NoMich at 6:24 AM on March 10

'Destination Out' also had a previous life as a column in Straight No Chaser. And it's a Jackie McLean album. It's a great album, and highly recommended.
posted by box at 7:39 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Ah, mp3 blogs. Love 'em. Been looking to expose myself to more jazz—I just know I haven't even cracked the surface yet and, well... that rules.

Thanks!
posted by defenestration at 8:02 AM on March 10

Just got to the Mahanthappa post and I'm all kid in a candy store. I recently read the New Yorker piece and now this...

I've been in a music rut lately, so this is very much appreciated.
posted by defenestration at 8:15 AM on March 10

Great post. Orgy in Rhythm is another great site specializing in rare and lost jazz.
posted by HumanComplex at 9:50 AM on March 10

Great post, much appreciated. And I second koeselitz's enthusiasm for the Marsalis piece; I love this part:

One of the most interesting moments in the Iverson interview occurs when Wynton talks about how people have ignorantly criticized his music without hearing it all, especially the recent work he feels differs from his early efforts. He makes a salient point with this anecdote:

I was in the Modern Museum and I told my son, “Earn your prejudice. Don’t be prejudiced against something you don’t know. Look at the man’s work. Look at all of this stuff.”

Sound advice. But what’s jaw-dropping is that several minutes later, he admits to Ethan how he isn’t familiar with the work of the AACM. Wait a minute. You mean, the avant garde collective whose music he has demonized, barred from the hallowed halls of Lincoln Center, and claimed help ruin jazz in the 1970s? The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, George Lewis, Leo Smith, et cetera. He admits he doesn’t know any of their music?!?!

posted by languagehat at 2:10 PM on March 10 [3 favorites]

Weird, I woke up and saw this excellent post this morning, and then happened to hear an interview with Mahanthappa on NPR this afternoon.
posted by horsemuth at 5:54 PM on March 10

I heard it too, and it prompted me to add to my Amazon wish list. Great stuff.
posted by languagehat at 10:26 AM on March 11

I honestly can't imagine the 1980s without the Art Ensemble.
posted by Wolof at 10:42 PM on March 11