In a dizzying collaboration of musicians from around the world, Pakistani-American alto saxophonist meets French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, whose trio features Japanese koto player Mieko Miyazaki and Indian tabla player Prabhu Edouard.
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| Rudresh Mahanthappa |
Playing jazz requires face-to-face communication.
But musicians — like everybody else these days — are busy using social media.
A casual exchange of comments on MySpace, for instance, led to an international collaboration between French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê and the steely-toned Pakistani-American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
Lê\'s pan-Asian Saiyuki Trio performs with Mahanthappa Saturday at Cornish College.
"We\'re MySpace friends and he sent me a two-word message, \'Great music,\' and I sent him back a message, \'Thanks, let\'s play," says Mahanthappa, 39.
After their initial online contact, Lê and Mahanthappa secured support from the French-American Jazz Exchange, which is underwriting their West Coast gigs.
The Saiyuki Trio\'s name derives from the Japanese moniker for The Monkey King, one of the main characters in a classic 16th-century Chinese novel about a trip to India, "Journey to the West." The trio features Japanese koto and shamisen expert Mieko Miyazaki and Indian tabla player Prabhu Edouard. With its captivating blend of traditional Asian forms and jazz harmonies, the trio pursues a rewarding strategy of blending styles and influences without letting any particular tradition dominate.
For Lê, the trio\'s collaboration with Mahanthappa is a trial run with prodigious potential.
"Sometimes you love a musician\'s playing, but you\'re not sure they would fit with your ideas," says Lê, 51, from his home in Paris. "Mieko and Prabhu for me are very traditional musicians, while me and Rudresh are jazz musicians with great interests in our roots, and the roots of the world. Saiyuki is already a great space for this dialogue."
Mahanthappa has emerged over the past decade as one of the most capaciously creative improvisers on the New York scene, both through his partnership with pianist Vijay Iyer and as the leader of several bracing ensembles, such as the Carnatic jazz project with South Indian saxophone master Kadri Gopalnath, and the trio Indo-Pak Coalition.
"I\'ve been a fan of Nguyên\'s for years," Mahanthappa says. "He\'s one of the best guitarists out there. It\'s a shame more people don\'t know him in the U.S. He\'s as killing as anyone you can think of."