Is the world ready for yet another tribute to Charlie Parker? Fear not! Alto saxist Rudresh Mahanthappa does some original, clever and fascinating wonders with Bird’s Wirks. Along with Adam O’Farrill/tp, Matt Mitchell/p, Francois Moutin/b and Rudy Royston/dr he uses his clarion calling horn to open the album in a series of “Bird Calls” and then does some mixing and matching with each artist to provide segues between exciting takes of tunes “based” on familiar fare such as “Donna Lee” and “Dexterity.”
The horns do some fascinating back and forth parlaying on both the rollicking “Chillin’” (Based on “Relaxin’ At the Camarillo”) and bopping “Both Hands” (from “Dexterity”-I think you get the title connections by now). There’s funky “Maybe Later” that features Mitchell’s flavorful piano and a sauntering read of “Tal is Thinking” that plods along like a declaratory march. Mahanthappa does what few artists these days are capable of: respecting the tradition of jazz yet still showing a hope for the future. This one’s a fun one! Should be a gas in concert.
ACT Music