Alto Saxophonist RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA named DownBeat Magazine's 63rd Critics Poll Triple Crown Winner

2015 saw not one, but two, Triple Crown winners as alto saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa joins American Pharoah in this illustrious group.

Mahanthappa, whose ACT Music +Vision release Bird Calls has garnered global acclaim, placed first for Jazz Album of the Year, Alto Saxophone (for the 4tth time in the past five years), and for Rising Star-Composer.

Though it pays homage to one of jazz’s Founding Fathers and arrived at the outset of Charlie Parker’s 95th birthday year, Bird Calls is not a tribute album in the traditional sense. There isn’t a single Parker composition to be found on the album, which consists entirely of new music penned by Mahanthappa for the occasion. But Bird’s DNA is strongly present in every one of these pieces, each of which takes a particular Parker melody or solo as its source of inspiration. Each is then wholly reimagined and re-contextualized by Mahanthappa and his quintet which features trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist François Moutin, and drummer Rudy Royston.

Select Bird Call Tour Dates

(complete Rudresh tour dates can be found at rudreshm.com)

July 3 - Iowa City, IA / Iowa City Jazz Festival

July 11 - Krefeld, Germany / Kulturfabrik

July 12 - Rotterdam, The Netherlands/ North Sea Jazz Festival

Aug 23 – New York, NY / Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

Sept 5  - Detroit, MI / Detroit International Jazz Festival

Sept 20  - Monterey, CA / Monterey Jazz Festival

Oct 24-25 – Washington DC / Blues Alley

Oct/Nov – Tour of Europe

Dec 12  - New York, NY / Miller Theatre

Jan 14, 2016  – Santiago, Chile / Jazz Festival

Feb 26, 2016 – Chicago, IL / Orchestra Hall

Feb 27, 2016- Columbus, OK / Wexner Center for the Arts

March 19, 2016 – Buffalo, NY / UB Center for the Arts