Have you seen/heard any of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts? On a fairly regular basis NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen brings in musical guests to perform in the NPR office – like, actually at Boilen’s office desk. I have never watched one of these Tiny Desk Concerts that I didn’t enjoy, although some I enjoy more than others. Recently I watched Tiny Desk Concert with alto sax master Rudresh Mahanthappa and I was pretty blown away, so I figured that I would share.
Back in May 2010 and again in March 2011, the big band I play with, Bobby Zankel and the Wonderful Sound, played a couple of concerts with Rudresh – the first one just outside of Philadelphia, and the second at the Iridium in NYC. 9You can watch the first concert here). We played a suite of music that Rudresh wrote and it was a ton of fun. Rudresh’s new album is called “Samdhi” and it is awesome. This Tiny Desk Concert features the same bass player: Rich Brown, but instead of David Gilmore on guitar, this Concert features frequent Rudresh collaborator Rez Abassi on guitar. And the drummer for this Concert is the great Rudy Royston, a favorite of mine (and a favorite of many others considering how many people he’s been playing with since he moved to NYC from Denver). Needless to say, this band is pretty sick. And the intimate (it’s a freakin’ office!) environment makes for an interesting and personal visual performance.
Hope you enjoy:
http://www.npr.org/event/music/148034483/rudresh-mahanthappa-tiny-desk-concert
And if you like this, maybe also check out a somewhat recent Tiny Desk Concert with legendary guitarist Bill Frisell playing John Lennon tunes solo. That one was great too!
Back in May 2010 and again in March 2011, the big band I play with, Bobby Zankel and the Wonderful Sound, played a couple of concerts with Rudresh – the first one just outside of Philadelphia, and the second at the Iridium in NYC. 9You can watch the first concert here). We played a suite of music that Rudresh wrote and it was a ton of fun. Rudresh’s new album is called “Samdhi” and it is awesome. This Tiny Desk Concert features the same bass player: Rich Brown, but instead of David Gilmore on guitar, this Concert features frequent Rudresh collaborator Rez Abassi on guitar. And the drummer for this Concert is the great Rudy Royston, a favorite of mine (and a favorite of many others considering how many people he’s been playing with since he moved to NYC from Denver). Needless to say, this band is pretty sick. And the intimate (it’s a freakin’ office!) environment makes for an interesting and personal visual performance.
Hope you enjoy:
http://www.npr.org/event/music/148034483/rudresh-mahanthappa-tiny-desk-concert
And if you like this, maybe also check out a somewhat recent Tiny Desk Concert with legendary guitarist Bill Frisell playing John Lennon tunes solo. That one was great too!
