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Album: Raw Materials
Released: May 22, 2006
Label:

General Info

  • Genre: Classical / Experimental / Jazz

    Location NEW YORK, New York, US

    Profile Views: 55192

    Last Login: 9/12/2010

    Member Since 5/19/2006

    Website http://rawmaterialsduo.com

    Record Label Savoy Jazz

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    Pianist VIJAY IYER and alto saxophonist RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA represent a new generation of American jazz musicians who explore the cultures of their ancestry through their music. The sons of immigrants from India, they draw from Asian, African, and European traditions to create original music that is beyond category. They have gained recognition from audiences, musicians, and critics alike as world-class improvisors and composers, outspoken young Asian American voices, and important forces in the music world. Since 1996, Iyer and Mahanthappa have worked together constantly, performing their cutting-edge original music to widespread acclaim around the world. In spring 2006, ten years after the two began collaborating, Savoy Jazz released their first album as a duo, titled RAW MATERIALS. Time Out New York calls it "their most striking collaboration yet. A series of confident duets, the set combines stateliness with rawness... It's like seeing two sides of the same coin." All About Jazz hails the disc as "a total triumph from beginning to end." .. VIJAY IYER was described in ..The Village Voice.. as "the most commanding pianist and composer to emerge in recent years" and in ..The New Yorker.. as one of "today's most important pianists." He has released twelve highly acclaimed albums, most recently "Tragicomic" (Sunnyside 2008) with his trio & quartet, "Door" (Pi Recordings 2008) with the trio Fieldwork, "Still Life with Commentator" (Savoy 2007) with poet-performer Mike Ladd, and "Raw Materials" (Savoy 2006) in duo with Mahanthappa. The Downbeat Magazine International Critics Poll ranked him Number 1 Rising Star Jazz Artist and Number 1 Rising Star Composer in 2007 and 2008 -- winning top honors in both categories simultaneously for two years in a row -- and he has consistently placed near the top of these and the piano categories since 2001. He has performed worldwide with his ensembles and collaborations, and has also worked extensively with Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Amiri Baraka, Butch Morris, Ethel, Miya Masaoka, dead prez, Karsh Kale, George Lewis, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Dennis Russell Davies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Vijay has received the prestigious CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and project grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, Creative Capital, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Arts International, and The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. He has been a faculty member at New York University, New School University, and the School for Improvisational Music. His writings have been published in Music Perception, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Current Musicology, Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, and Sound Unbound. He lives in New York City. Info: ..vijay-iyer.com.... Guggenheim fellow RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA is one of the most innovative young musicians and composers in jazz today. Named a Rising Star of the alto saxophone by the Downbeat International Critics Poll for the past four years, 2 in 2006, he leads/co-leads seven groups to critical acclaim. His most recent release for Pi Recordings Codebook (2006) was named one of the Top Jazz Albums of 2006 by The Village Voice, Jazztimes, and The Denver Post to name only a few and received rave reviews from Downbeat, Jazztimes, wired.com and Science Magazine. In Europe, Codebook received the “Choc” (highest) rating in France’s Jazzman, 4 stars in the UK’s Jazzwise, and received the “Bollino di Marzo” from Italy’s Musica Jazz. As a saxophonist, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts to develop new work. Mahanthappa holds a Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music degree in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University. He now teaches at The New School University. Rudresh Mahanthappa currently lives in New York where he is clearly regarded as an important and influential voice in the jazz world. Rudresh uses Vandoren reeds exclusively. Mahanthappa is also New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. Info: ..rudreshm.com.... RAW MATERIALS, their duo project, engages the listener with intelligent melodies and harmonies combined with wonderfully layered rhythms, epitomizing new jazz at its best. Their ongoing musical collaboration showcases their strong creative alliance, their common perspectives and contrasting dispositions. The duo has premiered and recorded an evening-length work commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, had a performance broadcast on Swiss Radio, and appeared at international festivals in Strasbourg, San Francisco, Seattle, Perth, Melbourne, Vancouver, the Hague and Montreal, among others.
  • Members

    ..Vijay Iyer.., piano.. ..Rudresh Mahanthappa.., alto saxophone .. .. Live from the 2007 JVC Jazz Festival: .. .. .. .. ..
  • Influences

    John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Steve Coleman, Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, Randy Weston, Trichy Sankaran, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Shakti, Abida Perveen, Hindustani, Carnatic, Indian Classical, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Parveen Sultana, Bismillah Khan, Bartok, Debussy, Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, Ligeti, Reich, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, etc.
  • Sounds Like

    you tell us!

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  • Richard Harris


    PLEASE VOTE ON NOV 6TH!  Your COUNTRY NEEDS YOU Raw!
     

    "JACKSON'S LOVE - FOR THE LOVE OF A CHILD" - MY BRAND NEW CD - HAS JUST BEEN RECORDED - WATCH FOR IT SOON @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT THE RIGHT TO VOTE ...

    Many BRAVE MEN and WOMEN have given their

    lives to give us FREEDOM and the RIGHT TO VOTE!

    Don't WASTE this PRECIOUS RIGHT by not voting

    and remaining silent!  There is TOO MUCH AT STAKE!

    PLEASE LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

    VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6TH!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Please take a minute and give my music a listen!

    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    6 months ago
  • Richard Harris


    Are you one of Romney's 47% Raw?
     

    "JACKSON'S LOVE - FOR THE LOVE OF A CHILD" - MY BRAND NEW CD - HAS JUST BEEN RECORDED - WATCH FOR IT SOON @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT MITT ROMNEY'S 47% ...

    "There are 47% of the people (over 141,000,000 people) who

    will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47%

    who are with him, who are dependent upon GOVERNMENT,

    who believe that they are VICTIMS, who believe the

    government has a responsibility to CARE FOR THEM, who

    believe that they are ENTITLED to HEALTH CARE, to FOOD, to

    HOUSING, to YOU-NAME-IT. That that’s an entitlement. And the

    government should give it to them. And they will vote for this

    president no matter what…These are people who pay no income

    tax…MY JOB IS NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE. I’ll

    never convince them they should take PERSONAL

    RESPONSIBILITY and care for their lives."

    ~ Mitt Romney

    HE DOESN'T OFTEN INSULT HALF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, BUT WHEN HE DOES, HE CHARGES $50,000.00 A PLATE TO HEAR HIM.

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Please take a minute and give my music a listen!

    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    7 months ago
  • Richard Harris


    You Change Your LIFE By Changing Your HEART Raw!
     

    "JACKSON'S LOVE - FOR THE LOVE OF A CHILD" -  MY BRAND NEW CD - HAS JUST BEEN RECORDED - WATCH FOR IT @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT INSPIRATION ...

    "Let me ASPIRE

    to INSPIRE

    before I EXPIRE."

    CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOU

    CHANGE YOUR WORLD!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Please take a minute and give my music a listen!

    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    8 months ago
  • Richard Harris


    OPTIMISM is the FAITH that leads to ACHIEVEMENT Raw!
     

    I AM RECORDING A NEW ALBUM THIS SUMMER - WATCH FOR IT @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT OPTIMISM ...

    “One of the things I learned the hard way was

    that it DOESN'T PAY to get DISCOURAGED.

    Keeping busy and making OPTIMISM a way of life

    can RESTORE YOUR FAITH in yourself.”

    IF YOU REALIZED HOW POWERFUL YOUR

    THOUGHTS ARE ~ YOU WOULD NEVER THINK

    ANOTHER NEGATIVE THOUGHT!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Please take a minute and give my music a listen!

    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    9 months ago
  • Richard Harris

    Don't be afraid to TAKE RISKS Raw!
     

    I AM RECORDING A NEW ALBUM THIS SUMMER - WATCH FOR IT @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT RISK TAKING ...

    “The person who RISKS NOTHING,

    DOES NOTHING,

    HAS NOTHING,

     IS NOTHING,

    and BECOMES NOTHING.

    He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply

    cannot LEARN and FEEL and CHANGE

    and GROW and LOVE and LIVE.”

    ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

    MAN CANNOT DISCOVER NEW OCEANS UNLESS HE

    HAS THE COURAGE TO LOSE SIGHT OF THE SHORE!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Please take a minute and give my music a listen!

    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    10 months ago
  • Richard Harris



    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com


    May you FIND PEACE Raw!

     

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT PEACE AND LOVE ...

    “To be AT ONE WITH GOD is to be AT PEACE ...

    PEACE is to be found only within, and unless one finds it

    there he will NEVER FIND IT AT ALL.  PEACE lies not in the

    external world. It lies WITHIN ONE'S OWN SOUL.”

    ~ Ralph Waldo Trine

    ALL WE ARE SAYING ~ IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.myspace.com/richardharrislive

    Please give my music a listen!

    Cool Jazz CD's @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    OR

    CDBaby.com / ITunes

    1 year ago
  • Richard Harris



    MY ALBUM "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WAMMIE AWARD AS JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR! LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS - AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Happy Valentine's Day Raw!

     

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT LOVE ...

    “When you SMILED you had my UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

    When you LAUGHED you had my urge to LAUGH WITH YOU.

    When you CRIED you had my urge to HOLD YOU.

    When YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME ...

    you HAD MY HEART FOREVER.”

    LIFE'S GREATEST HAPPINESS IS TO BE CONVINCED

    WE ARE LOVED!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.myspace.com/richardharrislive

    Please give my music a listen!

    Cool Jazz CD's @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    OR

    CDBaby.com / ITunes

    1 year ago
  • Richard Harris



    LISTEN TO SOME SWEET SOUNDS FROM MY NEW CD "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    ALWAYS HOLD ON TO HOPE Raw!

     

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT HOPE ...

    "NEVER take away SOMEONE'S HOPE ...

    it may be ALL THEY HAVE."

    HOPE IS THE POOR MAN'S BREAD.  WHILE THERE IS

    LIFE THERE IS HOPE!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.myspace.com/richardharrislive

    Please give my music a listen!

    Cool Jazz CD's @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    OR

    CDBaby.com / ITunes

    1 year ago
  • Richard Harris



    LISTEN TO SOME SWEET MUSIC FROM MY NEW CD "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Give Thanks Today Raw!

     

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS ABOUT GIVING THANKS ...

    "It isn't what you have in your POCKET

     that makes you THANKFUL,

     but WHAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR HEART."

    JUST A "THANK YOU" IS A MIGHTY POWERFUL PRAYER -

    IT SAYS IT ALL!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and GRATITUDE my friend,

    Richard

    www.myspace.com/richardharrislive

    Please give my music a listen and let me know what you think!

    Cool Jazz CDs @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    OR

    CDBaby.com / ITunes

    1 year ago
  • Richard Harris



    MY NEW CD "LOVE'S SWEET SONG" HAS JUST BEEN RELEASED AND IS AVAILABLE @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    Merry Christmas Raw!

     

    TODAY'S THOUGHT IS FROM "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" ...

    Potter, the banker, has given a speech to the Board of the Building and Loan, referring to the working people of Bedford Falls as a "DISCONTENTED LAZY RABBLE."

    George Bailey responds, defending his late father, Peter Bailey, and the working people whom he championed.

    "... he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? ... You...you said...What'd you say just a minute ago?...They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait! Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken-down that they...Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars?

    Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that THIS RABBLE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ... THEY DO MOST OF THE WORKING AND PAYING AND LIVING AND DYING IN THIS COMMUNITY. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. PEOPLE WERE HUMAN BEINGS TO HIM, BUT TO YOU, A WARPED FRUSTRATED OLD MAN, THEY'RE CATTLE.  Well, in my book HE DIED A MUCH RICHER MAN THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!"

    ALWAYS REMEMBER, NO MAN IS A FAILURE WHO HAS FRIENDS!

    With LOVE, RESPECT, and PEACE my friend,

    Richard

    www.myspace.com/richardharrislive

    Please give my music a listen and let me know what you think!

    Cool Jazz CDs @ www.RichardHarrisLive.com

    OR

    CDBaby.com / ITunes

    1 year ago
10 of 67More

Bio:

Pianist VIJAY IYER and alto saxophonist RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA represent a new generation of American jazz musicians who explore the cultures of their ancestry through their music. The sons of immigrants from India, they draw from Asian, African, and European traditions to create original music that is beyond category. They have gained recognition from audiences, musicians, and critics alike as world-class improvisors and composers, outspoken young Asian American voices, and important forces in the music world. Since 1996, Iyer and Mahanthappa have worked together constantly, performing their cutting-edge original music to widespread acclaim around the world. In spring 2006, ten years after the two began collaborating, Savoy Jazz released their first album as a duo, titled RAW MATERIALS. Time Out New York calls it "their most striking collaboration yet. A series of confident duets, the set combines stateliness with rawness... It's like seeing two sides of the same coin." All About Jazz hails the disc as "a total triumph from beginning to end."

VIJAY IYER was described in The Village Voice as "the most commanding pianist and composer to emerge in recent years" and in The New Yorker as one of "today's most important pianists." He has released twelve highly acclaimed albums, most recently "Tragicomic" (Sunnyside 2008) with his trio & quartet, "Door" (Pi Recordings 2008) with the trio Fieldwork, "Still Life with Commentator" (Savoy 2007) with poet-performer Mike Ladd, and "Raw Materials" (Savoy 2006) in duo with Mahanthappa. The Downbeat Magazine International Critics Poll ranked him Number 1 Rising Star Jazz Artist and Number 1 Rising Star Composer in 2007 and 2008 -- winning top honors in both categories simultaneously for two years in a row -- and he has consistently placed near the top of these and the piano categories since 2001. He has performed worldwide with his ensembles and collaborations, and has also worked extensively with Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Amiri Baraka, Butch Morris, Ethel, Miya Masaoka, dead prez, Karsh Kale, George Lewis, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Dennis Russell Davies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Vijay has received the prestigious CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and project grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, Creative Capital, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Arts International, and The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. He has been a faculty member at New York University, New School University, and the School for Improvisational Music. His writings have been published in Music Perception, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Current Musicology, Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, and Sound Unbound. He lives in New York City. Info: vijay-iyer.com

Guggenheim fellow RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA is one of the most innovative young musicians and composers in jazz today. Named a Rising Star of the alto saxophone by the Downbeat International Critics Poll for the past four years, 2 in 2006, he leads/co-leads seven groups to critical acclaim. His most recent release for Pi Recordings Codebook (2006) was named one of the Top Jazz Albums of 2006 by The Village Voice, Jazztimes, and The Denver Post to name only a few and received rave reviews from Downbeat, Jazztimes, wired.com and Science Magazine. In Europe, Codebook received the “Choc” (highest) rating in France’s Jazzman, 4 stars in the UK’s Jazzwise, and received the “Bollino di Marzo” from Italy’s Musica Jazz. As a saxophonist, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts to develop new work. Mahanthappa holds a Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music degree in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University. He now teaches at The New School University. Rudresh Mahanthappa currently lives in New York where he is clearly regarded as an important and influential voice in the jazz world. Rudresh uses Vandoren reeds exclusively. Mahanthappa is also New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. Info: rudreshm.com

RAW MATERIALS, their duo project, engages the listener with intelligent melodies and harmonies combined with wonderfully layered rhythms, epitomizing new jazz at its best. Their ongoing musical collaboration showcases their strong creative alliance, their common perspectives and contrasting dispositions. The duo has premiered and recorded an evening-length work commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, had a performance broadcast on Swiss Radio, and appeared at international festivals in Strasbourg, San Francisco, Seattle, Perth, Melbourne, Vancouver, the Hague and Montreal, among others.

Member Since:

May 19, 2006

Members:

Vijay Iyer, piano
Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone

Live from the 2007 JVC Jazz Festival:

Influences:

John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Steve Coleman, Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, Randy Weston, Trichy Sankaran, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Shakti, Abida Perveen, Hindustani, Carnatic, Indian Classical, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Parveen Sultana, Bismillah Khan, Bartok, Debussy, Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, Ligeti, Reich, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, etc.

Sounds Like:

you tell us!

Record Label:

Savoy Jazz

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