Rudresh Mahanthappa Bunky Green - Apex (2010)

Artist: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green
Title Of Album: Apex
Year Of Release: 2010
Label: Pi Recordings
Genre: Jazz
Quality: mp3
Bitrate: 320kbps
Total Size: 180 mb
TRACKLIST
1. Welcome
2. Summit
3. Soft
4. Playing with Stones
5. Lamenting
6. Eastern Echoes
7. Little Girl, I’ll Miss You
8. Who?
9. Rainer and Theresia
10. The Journey
Personnel:
Rudresh Mahanthappa – alto saxophone
Bunky Green – alto saxophone
Jason Moran – piano
Franзois Moutin – bass
Jack DeJohnette – drums (on 1, 2, 9, & 10)
Damion Reid – drums (on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8)
Rudresh Mahanthappa, a 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, is widely recognized as one of the most important jazz musicians today. At 39 years old, he has perennially been on the Down Beat Critics Poll as alto saxophonist and composer and has been named Alto Saxophonist of the Year the last two years by the Jazz Journalist Association. His prior release Kinsmen (Pi 28), which masterfully combined jazz with South Indian music, was named the runner-up album of the year in the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll in 2008 and hailed as one of the top jazz albums of the year by numerous publications.
75-year-old Vernice “Bunky” Green, on the other hand, has had a much more under-sung career. Raised in Milwaukee, WI, he went to New York in his early 20s and soon was hired by Charles Mingus, at the recommendation of Lou Donaldson, as a replacement in his band for Jackie McLean. Green traveled with the Mingus band to California for a series of gigs but on the way back to New York he was dropped off in Chicago to attend to family matters. When it became apparent that Green would not be rejoining the band, Mingus hired John Handy for the saxophone seat and went on to record some of that band’s most successful albums. Green eventually settled in Chicago, where he performed regularly and recorded for the VeeJay and later the Chess record labels. In the early 1970s he took a job teaching at Chicago State University where he stayed until 1989 when he became the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of North Florida at Jacksonville. He served for a time as the President of the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) and was voted into its Jazz Educators Hall of Fame in 1999. He recorded three records on Vanguard in the late 1970s and appeared on two records with Elvin Jones at the same time. Other than that, he has largely been off the scene for thirty years.
On Apex, One can immediately see why Mahanthappa was drawn to Green’s playing: The two share a similar biting tone, harmonic sophistication, a well-articulated rapid fire attack, and a certain rhythmic elasticity. Perhaps what’s most amazing about Green is that such modern playing is coming from a 75 year old. The album features originals by both Mahanthappa and Green specifically created for this collaboration. The compositions highlight a collective vision of using traditional forms as a launching point for contemporary improvisation and interaction at its highest level.
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