When Rudresh Mahanthappa recorded Bird Calls, the alto saxophonist wanted to pay tribute to one of his heroes who was probably the greatest alto saxophonist of all time, but he didn’t want to make a straight-up Charlie Parker covers record. Instead, he re-cast Parker tunes to the extent that they became Mahanthappa originals. Five years later, he crosses completely over into playing covers of Parker and other sources for his inspiration.
Hero Trio is that ‘all-covers’ record, which is about the only thing this boundary-pushing composer, bandleader and ace reedman hadn’t yet attempted in one of the most creative jazz careers since the turn of the 21st century. And far from being just an exercise in his interpretive skills (which are unique and stimulating), here is a large window into what makes Rudresh Mahanthappa tick, what lights his fire, what shaped him into the artist he is today. It reaches across generations and genres, but ‘Bird’ still looms large.
The Hero Trio band is a pared down version of the quintet that made Bird Calls. Drummer Rudy Royston and Mahanthappa’s longtime acoustic bassist François Moutin are all who’s needed for Mahanthappa to flesh out these songs in meaningful ways because the saxophonist is so good at fully sketching out the melody and harmony of a song without chordal support and his rhythm section is so good at taking these songs into fresh new places.
“Red Cross” is what I’d call the track that perfectly bridges us from Bird Calls to Hero Trio, mainly because it’s a Charlie Parker song. The trio puts its own stamp on the tune, never fully playing out the head before diving into improv and there’s even a new bridge. “Barbados/26-2” has a funky interlude tacked on front and only after that is done we hear Parker’s 12-bar blues. Moutin gets first dibs on soloing, and when Rudresh Mahanthappa does his thing next, he stretches bebop out to its logical limits. From there, the trio transitions into John Coltrane’s “26-2”, where Trane did what Mahanthappa did on Bird Calls and built a song around the chord changes of Parker’s “Confirmation,” but that, too, is puckish and livelier than the original.
There are other vintage jazz standards on Hero Trio and none of these are treated in ways they’ve been treated ever before. For instance, Mahanthappa chose “I’ll Remember April” because he was thinking about Sonny Rollins’ performance of it on Live at the Village Vanguard from 1957 as well as Lee Konitz’s 1961 rendition. But it’s hard not to notice the crazy, contemporary rhythm Moutin and Royston keeps slipping underneath it and at one point they spill over into the leader’s space. It sounds like irresistible fun, and they do it again for yet one more Parker classic, “Dewey Square.” For an anguished take on “I Can’t Get Started,” Moutin devises a bass line that matches Mahanthappa’s sentiment instead of Vernon Duke’s melody and Royston plays to the mood as well.
A couple of jazz songs from the post-bop era show up in creative renderings. For Keith Jarrett’s 70s tune “The Windup,” Moutin undertakes Jarrett’s role in the song while Mahanthappa is playing Jan Garbarek. Moutin later is fast, dexterous and lyrical for his aside. Moutin saws with sorrow just as David Izenzon did on Ornette Coleman’s “Sadness”, and Mahanthappa wavers his notes perfectly just as Coleman did but still within his own language.
The Hero Trio finds ways to liven up old and familiar songs outside the realm of jazz, too. Rudresh Mahanthappa covers all the harmonic touch points of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” so that there’s no mistaken what song this is, but judiciously avoids adding unnecessary notes that would clutter it up. Mahanthappa exploits the phrasing irregularities in the Johnny Cash hit “Ring of Fire” as a springboard for freedom. Plus, it’s a great melody, a common trait of all of the songs chosen for this album.
Just because Rudresh Mahanthappa took a break from composing for this project doesn’t mean he took a break from creating. Hero Trio has just as many delightful surprises and audacious musicianship as any other Mahanthappa record.
Hero Trio will release on June 19, 2020 from Whirlwind Recordings.
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