Sunday Session: March 29, 2020

Hank Mobley

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Remembering two Sun Ra disciples: Danny Ray Thompson and Leroy Butler (XPN.com)
* Musicians Across the World Face Daunting Situations (DownBeat)
* Ray Mantilla, Percussionist Who Blazed a Trail in Both Jazz and Latin Music, Is Dead at 85 (WBGO)
* ‘I’m selling my cello to keep my family afloat’ – coronavirus realities for musicians (ClassicFM.com)
* Overdue Ovation: Hank Roberts Is Back in the Game (Jazz Times)
* Mike Longo, Prominent Jazz Pianist Known For His Tenure with Dizzy Gillespie, Dies at 83 (WBGO)
* Mr. Bungle Re-Recording First Demo: Exclusive Studio Report, Part 1 (RevolverMag.com)
* Lee Is Free: An Interview With Lee Ranaldo And Raül Refree (TheQuietus.com)
* Manu Dibango: African saxophone legend dies of Covid-19 (BBC)
* As Americans Increasingly are Asked To Stay Home, Rudresh Mahanthappa Explores his Kitchen (DownBeat)
* The Archive of Contemporary Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Richard Thompson on Songwriting, Capturing Butterflies, Picasso & More (American Songwriter)
* For Sale: The Wooden Stage From The Beatles’ First Concert (Atlas Obscura)
* A History of Jazz Fusion in 30 Essential Albums (TrebleZine.com)
* ‘History needs to be set alight’: Shabaka Hutchings on the radical power of jazz (The Guardian)
* Legendary producer Larry Klein: my 12 career-defining records (MusicRadar.com)
* National Recording Registry Class Produces Ultimate 'Stay at Home' Playlist (LOC.gov)
* Bass legend Carol Kaye: “98% of bass parts cut in Hollywood in the '60s were done with a pick on flatwound strings” (Guitar World)
* The Haunted Jazz of Hank Mobley (The New Yorker)
* Lensing the Newport Mob: 60 Years Later, A Deep Dive Into 'Jazz on a Summer's Day' (WBGO)
* Marshall Allen Looks Back on Five Decades of Sun Ra Arkestra (Miami New Times)
* How Coronavirus Will Reshape The Concert Business (Billboard)
* Alice Coltrane: where to start in her back catalogue (The Guardian)
* Bob Dylan Releases 17-Minute Song About JFK Assassination (Variety)
* Montreux Jazz Festival Releases Free Streams Of Iconic Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone Performances (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Radio, Don’t Blow Your Chance to Matter Again (Guest Column) (Variety)
* Gregory Porter Moves Past the ‘Gates of Genres’ (DownBeat)
* Ranky Tanky: Celebrating the Spirituality & Rhythms of Gullah Culture (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: March 8, 2020

McCoy Tyner

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* How The Brain Teases Apart A Song's Words And Music (NPR)
* The jazz icon Sonny Rollins knows life is a solo trip (New York Times)
* Public Enemy Fires Flavor Flav After Bernie Sanders Rally Spat (Rolling Stone)
* Haden Triplets Find Songs’ Simplicity (DownBeat)
* Spotify’s Newest Pitch to Labels and Musicians: Now You Pay Us (Bloomberg.com)
* 'The road will kill you': why older musicians are cancelling tours (The Guardian)
* What the US record industry should fear about its future – and what it deserves to celebrate (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* After 60 Years, Sergio Mendes Is Still Writing Songs 'In The Key Of Joy' (NPR)
* Oscar Peterson’s Africa Suite Comes to Life in Toronto (Jazz Times)
* Nona Hendryx on Paying Tribute to Sun Ra at the Met: 'Afrofuturism Has Always Been' (Billboard)
* The Archive Of Contemporary Music — And Its 3 Million Recordings — Is Leaving NY (NPR)
* The Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival: A Small Triumph in Haiti (DownBeat)
* Soundtrack City: How Nashville is awash in film, game scores (ABC News)
* 'It's hopeful and generous': Thurston Moore's experimental record shop (The Guardian)
* Art Blakey, the Mightiest Mentor (DownBeat)
* Q&A with Rudresh Mahanthappa: A Jazz Festival Grows in Princeton (JAZZIZ)
* Read Universal Music Group Chief Archivist’s Update on Damage From 2008 Fire (Variety)
* Brecker and Rovatti Examine Their ‘Sacred Bond’ (DownBeat)
* In Memoriam: McCoy Tyner (DownBeat)
* McCoy Tyner, Jazz Pianist Who Anchored John Coltrane’s Legendary Quartet, Dead at 81 (Rolling Stone)
* Austin officials cancel South by Southwest festival (Associated Press)
* McCoy Tyner, Groundbreaking Pianist Of 20th Century Jazz, Dies At 81 (NPR)
* Arts & Culture: A Blast from the Past (APS.org)
* ‘Hot Rats’ at 50: How Frank Zappa busted up his band, moved to L.A. and helped invent jazz-rock (Los Angeles Times)
* The 10 most groundbreaking free jazz albums of all time (HappyMag.tv)

Sunday Session: February 17, 2019

Herbie Hancock

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Pop Hits Were Really Slow (Again) in 2018 (Rolling Stone)
* Daversa, Blanchard, Salvant Win Grammys (DownBeat)
* The Spectacular Failure of the World's Only Hard Rock Theme Park (Vice.com)
* Details of "Bizarre World of Frank Zappa" Hologram Tour Announced (Guitar Player)
* Huey Lewis battles through a hearing loss nightmare (San Francisco Chronicle)
* 2019 Grammy Awards: Why I'm using my nomination to speak out about sexism in the world of jazz (NBC News)
* ‘In jazz, the piano gets to do what guitars get to do in rock’ (Irish Times)
* The Final Days of EMI: Selling the Pig by Eamonn Forde – review (The Guardian)
* Students in Kazakhstan just built a BANANA piano – and it’s rather appealing (ClassicFM.com)
* Alice Coltrane’s spiritual jazz, 1968-1971 (MusicAficionado.com)
* Minneapolis festival honors Pulitzer-winning jazz great Henry Threadgill: 'Discovery is the greatest thing' (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* A two-day Walker festival celebrates composer-bandleader Henry Threadgill (City Pages)
* Q&A with Rudresh Mahanthappa: A Jazz Festival Grows in Princeton (Jazziz)
* Herbie Hancock, coming to Clearwater, talks about working with Kendrick Lamar and his big Grammy upset (TampaBay.com)
* Extraordinary Popular Delusions play free jazz two centuries deep (Chicago Reader)
* People Laughed When This Philly Lawyer Sued Led Zeppelin. Nobody’s Laughing Now. (PhillyMag.com)
* A day in the life of Emily Lazar, Grammy-winning mastering engineer (CBCMusic.ca)
* Who’s Hazel Scott? (Unsung Women of Jazz #11) (CurtJazz.com)
* How Talking Heads and Brian Eno Wrote “Once in a Lifetime”: Cutting Edge, Strange & Utterly Brilliant (OpenCulture.com)
* Blue Note Records, 80 years on – A brief History (Jazz in Europe)
* Church of St. John Coltrane Marks 50 Years, Sets Fundraiser (DownBeat)
* Oscar-Nominated Terence Blanchard On 30 Years Of Jazz And Film Scoring For Spike Lee (NPR)
* Pop, Prince and Black Panthers: the glorious life of Chaka Khan (The Guardian)
* Edition Festival a Celebration of Anthony Braxton’s Oeuvre (DownBeat)
* Scam Season Comes for the Orchestra (Vulture.com)
* Ken Nordine, 'Word Jazz' Creator, Dies at 98 (KQED)

Sunday Session: August 13, 2017

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Kamasi Washington: An Opinion of Difference (Jazz Times)
* Neither bills nor advancing age can dim the glow of a drummer's dream (Los Angeles Times)
* Was Elvis a thief? Yes! No! Maybe? Music stars weigh in on Presley's legacy (San Diego Union Tribune)
* Field Notes: Newport 2017, Day One - Cécile McLorin Salvant and more at the fest's first McBride-led edition (Jazz Times)
* Field Notes: Newport 2017, Day Two - A touching tribute to Geri Allen highlights Saturday at Fort Adams (Jazz Times)
* Field Notes: Newport 2017, Day Three - The fest wraps with plenty of sun and groove (Jazz Times)
* The Power of Sound: Using the Shepard Tone In Filmmaking (PremiumBeat.com)
* Suzanne Ciani and the Subliminal Property of Being Human (The Paris Review)
* 'The Green Book' Guided Black Travelers to L.A.'s Central Avenue Jazz Scene (KCET)
* Interim Thoughts on the Life and Career of Chubby Checker (PopMatters.com)
* Grammys boss knuckles under China censors as show readies tour (Japan Times)
* Anything is possible when jazz master Henry Threadgill plays at Newport (Boston Globe)
* AI and music: will we be slaves to the algorithm? (The Guardian)
* Southern Exposure: Searching for clues to the death of a bandleader (Daily Astorian)
* Jimmy Webb, Writer of Glen Campbell Classics, Remembers ‘My Big Brother, My Co-Culprit’ (Variety)
* Creating the world’s largest cat sound effects library – with Yarron Katz (ASoundEffect.com)
* Why do stars like Adele keep losing their voice? (The Guardian)
* Forebears: The Mercurial And Majestic Dinah Washington (NPR)
* Q&A with Rudresh Mahanthappa: Connected Spaces (DownBeat)
* The Internet Doesn’t Matter, You’re Making Music in L.A. (Vulture.com)
* Know your customers: Costa Pilavachi on the classical recording industry (Rhinegold.co.uk)
* Steve Martin Explains His Love of Banjo Music: 'It Rivals Any Specialized Genre' (Billboard)
* The Rich History—and Present—of Latin American Prog (Bandcamp.com)
* SoundCloud Saved By The Bell Of A Big Chunk Of Financing (NPR)
* Eagle Saloon unveils historical plaques, window displays (Offbeat)
* Party Over Here: An Oral History of Kool Herc’s Historic Back-to-School Jam (MassAppeal.com)
* When Mistakes/Studio Glitches Give Famous Songs Their Personality: Pink Floyd, Metallica, The Breeders, Steely Dan & More (OpenCulture.com)

Sunday Session: October 16, 2016

Charlie Parker

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Music of the Presses: How an L.A. Printer Kept the Art of the Album Cover Alive (Collector's Weekly)
* Dual Identities: A Conversation With Jazz Soulmates Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa (Pitchfork)
* Computer Scientist Publishes Manifesto for Expressive Algorithmic Music (Vice.com)
* Norah Jones: "2016 Is a Weird Place to Be" (Paste)
* Is the Album a Dead Format for Music? (Inc)
* Friday essay: the sound of fear (TheConversation.com)
* Music of the mind: a stunning string quartet created through brainwaves (Aeon.co)
* Surviving Oldchella: Scenes From the Ultimate Classic Rock Rager (Pitchfork)
* The Making of The Last Waltz, the Band’s Concert-Film Masterpiece (Vanity Fair)
* How Rock and Roll Became White (Slate.com)
* Mind-blowing psychedelic 60s posters of Hendrix, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono & The Who (DangerousMinds.net)
* Bob Dylan, the Musician: America’s Great One-Man Songbook (New York Times)
* After Dylan's Nobel, how about Springsteen, Mitchell, Cohen? (CNN)
* How the Most Important Promoter in NY Ensures the Music Never Stops (Observer.com)
* The Night When Charlie Parker Played for Igor Stravinsky (1951) (OpenCulture.com)
* Jazz great Steve Coleman putting down roots in Detroit (Detroit Free Press)
* Is New Orleans A Music City? (Offbeat)
* Avishai Cohen: A Beautiful Melancholy (Jazz Times)
* How improving US-Cuba relations has helped this jazz musician (PRI)

Sunday Session: November 15, 2015

Allen Toussaint

Pour a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage, butter your toast and/or put a schmear on your bagel, and take a bit of Sunday morning to read some of the music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox recently:

* Kamasi Washington: After touring with Snoop Dogg, could he be jazz's next superstar? (The Independent UK)
* Centennial celebration gives Pittsburgh-bred composer Strayhorn his due (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
* Wynton Marsalis: trumpeting controversial ideas of classicism (The Guardian UK)
* Hidden treasures of a remote record shop (BBC)
* Stockholm Jazz Festival 2015 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 10 Questions for Musician Maria Schneider (TheArtsDesk.com)
* Bob Dylan and the “Hot Hand” (The New Yorker)
* Inside the World’s Biggest Jazz Record Store (GearPatrol.com)
* The Art Of The 'Clean Version' (NPR)
* Derek Trucks on What He Learned From Allman Brothers (Rolling Stone)
* Influential songwriter, producer Allen Toussaint has died (WWLTV.com)
* Pianist Allen Toussaint dies at 77 (DownBeat)
* Allen Toussaint’s Proudest Moment Is The Avant-Garde Soul Opera Nobody Heard (Trunkworthy.com)
* These Millennials Are Shaking Up the Jazz World (Vanity Fair)
* Users of Music, from Tech Giants to Fans, Need More Incentive to Fix a Broken Market: Op-Ed (Billboard)
* Musicians Struggle To Buy Insurance In A City That Thrives On Music (NPR)
* Free Agent of Sound - An Interview with Rob Mazurek (PopMatters.com)
* An interview with Survival Unit III (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Rudresh Mahanthappa Named United States Artists Fellow (Jazz Times)
* Mostly Other People Do The Killing Rocks the Boat in Brooklyn (DownBeat)
* Millennials push 2015 vinyl sales to 26-year high in US (NME.com)
* America’s Last Great CD Dealer Doesn’t Care If You Think CDs Are Dead (FlavorWire.com)
* Prince: ‘I was right about the internet – tell me a musician who’s got rich off it’ (The Guardian UK)
* So What Is Post-Internet Music, Anyway? (Vice.com)

Sunday Session: October 25, 2015

Hugh Masekela

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Tubby Hayes: British jazz’s forgotten genius is being rediscovered, thanks to fans including Martin Freeman (The Independent UK)
* Review - Echoes of a master fill a tribute to Charlie Haden at CalArts (Los Angeles Times)
* The New Explosion of Bootleg Vinyl (Pitchfork)
* Classical music isn't a secret society unless we allow it to be (The Guardian UK)
* How to get a gig as a game music composer (SoundOnSound.com)
* These Portraits of Southern Blues Musicians Prove That Blues Is Not Dead (Time)
* What’s wrong with the classical concert experience in the 21st century? (Gramophone)
* The Vision Festival: From Upstart to Institution (Jazz Times)
* What’s That Sound? It’s Tough to Tell (New York Times)
* 3 Cohens, Masekela Celebrate Heritage at South Africa’s Joy of Jazz Fest (DownBeat)
* Meet Composer Caroline Shaw, Kanye West’s New Pulitzer Prize-Winning Collaborator (Pitchfork)
* Videogames are helping to keep the symphony orchestra afloat (KillScreenDaily.com)
* “We did it, Mom!”: Frank Zappa’s Roxy The Movie Premieres in LA (Relix.com)
* When Iggy Pop can’t live off his art, what chance do the rest have? (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* NEA Announces Recipients of Jazz Masters Award (DownBeat)
* Vocalist Mark Murphy Dies at 83 (Jazz Times)
* Independent Musicians Find Unexpected Rewards in Streaming (New York Times)
* Why Everyone Wants To Record 'Live At The Village Vanguard' (NPR)
* Rudresh Mahanthappa’s tribute to Charlie Parker soars (Washington Post)
* Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”: The Full Story (Vanity Fair)
* Giving United Sound, Detroit's other landmark music studio, its due (ModelDMedia.com)
* Incredibly Strange Music: The Untold Story of Asphodel Records (FactMag.com)
* The Life And Death Of Tower Records, Revisited (NPR)
* Midnight In The Drum Machine Of Good And Evil (NPR)
* Music Download Site eMusic Gets Acquired Again, This Time By Israeli Media Startup TriPlay (TechCrunch.com)
* The Outrageous Auction Prices of Vintage Blue Note Vinyl Records (Collecting Blue Note Records)

Sunday Session: February 15, 2015

Billie Holiday

For your Sunday reading enjoyment and edification, here are some noteworthy items encountered during the past week about jazz, creative music, and more:

* You're Not Weird for Preferring the Live Version (Pacific Standard)
* Bird Of A Feather: Rudresh Mahanthappa On Learning From Charlie Parker (NPR)
* Glasper, Q-Tip Celebrate Blue Note 75th Anniversary at Capitol Records in Los Angeles (Down Beat)
* 50 Years of the AACM Celebrated in NYC Concerts (Jazz Times)
* Grammy-Nominated Mastering Engineer Emily Lazar on 2,000 Records, Women in Music & Pranking Audio Stores (Billboard)
* Jack White’s Guacamole Meets Van Halen’s M&Ms (Guitar Player)
* New Models: The State of Music Commissioning (21CM.org)
* Can’t See the Trees for the Forest at the 2015 Grammys (New Music Box)
* Remembering Bobby “Blue” Bland (Texas Monthly)
* Bill Evans' Kind of Blue Notes (JazzWax)
* FACT: Pandora Only Pays Songwriters 4% Of Revenues (Hypebot)
* Kurt Elling talks tackling Frank Sinatra: Portland Jazz Festival 2015 (Portland Oregonian)
* Gamers, Musicians Unite for SFJAZZ Bowl on Super Sunday (Down Beat)
* New Billie Holiday Collection Coming From Legacy - 20-track set covers 1935-45 (Jazz Times)
* The Stacks: Billie Holiday: Jazz’s Aching Songbird (The Daily Beast)

Jazz this week: Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miles Davis Memorial Project fundraiser, and more

This week brings both the official start of spring and an assortment of jazz and creative music music performances in and around St. Louis, including the local debut of a fast-rising saxophone star; a couple of big band concerts; a benefit to raise money for a statue honoring Miles Davis, and much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa (pictured) makes his St. Louis debut, opening a four-night stand with his band Gamak at Jazz at the Bistro.

A prolific collaborator who keeps at least a couple of different projects going at any one time, Mahanthappa has gotten a good amount of media attention - by jazz standards, anyway - for his blend of jazz and Indian classical music, including features in the major jazz magazines, appearances on NPR, and so on.

Gamak is one of his more extroverted ensembles, incorporating electric guitar and near-rock dynamics into a sound that should appeal to fans of fusion, funk and world music. You can find out more about Mahanthappa and check out some video samples of Gamak in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, Sarah Jane & The Blue Notes trio will do their monthly gig at The Feasting Fox, and trumpeter Jim Manley will be on tap at Sasha's Wine Bar.

On Thursday night, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present "The Colors of Chloe," a free concert featuring an ensemble led by drummer Steve Davis and guitarist William Lenihan playing music inspired by the ECM label. Also on Thursday, Common Time plays jazz-fusion at The Engine Room, and Wack-A-Doo will perform swing and vintage pop at the Schlafly Tap Room.

On Friday, violinist David McNair will lead a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; guitarist Dave Black plays solo at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and the Darrell Mixon Trio performs at Cigar Inn.

Saturday evening is a big night for the Miles Davis Memorial Project, as the organization will present its  "Kind of Blue" Fundraising Dinner at The Commons at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL. Proceeds from the event will go toward putting up a statue of Davis in downtown Alton.

Elsewhere on Saturday evening, singer Tandra Williams will be backed by guitarist Tom Byrne's trio at Robbie's House of Jazz;  Miss Jubilee plays at Nathalie’s; singer Danita Mumphard and friends return to Jazz On Broadway; and, for those in the mood for some Rat Pack nostalgia, the Viviano Brothers - comprised of singer Tony Viviano and his siblings Jerry and Frank - will open for singer Deana Martin's "Reflections of Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra" show at Lindenwood University's Scheidegger Center for the Arts.

On Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band will return for their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with the Bishop DuBourg High School Jazz Band performing a set during intermission.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Dizzy Atmosphere will return to The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Keith Moyer's quartet will play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner, will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and singer Erin Bode will be back at Cyrano's.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Rudresh Mahanthappa's Gamak

This week, let's look at some videos of alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, who will be making his St. Louis debut with his group Gamak starting Wednesday, March 19 through Saturday, March 22 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The son of Indian emigrants to the United States, the 42-year-old Mahanthappa is known particularly for combining jazz with elements of South Indian classical music. He grew up in Boulder, Colorado; graduated from Berklee College of Music; and earned an MFA in jazz composition from DePaul University in Chicago.

Moving to NYC in 1998, Mahanthappa soon teamed up and released an album with pianist Vijay Iyer, and they've continued to collaborate on many projects. To date, Mahanthappa has released 13 albums as a leader or co-leader, featuring various ensembles including an eponymous quartet and Raw Materials, both including Iyer; as well as the Indo-Pak Coalition, MSG, the Dakshina Ensemble, Dual Identity, and Samdhi.

The 2013 debut album by Gamak featured bassist François Moutin and drummer Dan Weiss, both of whom who have worked with Mahanthappa in other bands, as well as guitarist David "Fuse" Fiuczynski, whose penchant for microtonality complements Mahanthappa's own. Fiuczynski's metal-edged, take-no-prisoners approach became something of a cult favorite among guitarists via his own group, the Screaming Headless Torsos, and he's since gone on to play as a sideman with drummers Jack De Johnette and Stewart Copeland, trumpeter Cuong Vu, pianist Hiromi Uehara, and others.

However, according to the promotional material being disseminated by Jazz St. Louis, Fiuczynski won't be playing with Gamak at the Bistro. Instead, the gigs will feature Moutin, Weiss and guitarist Rez Abbasi, who's worked with Mahanthappa in several bands, including the aforementioned Indo-Pak Coalition.

Though that may be something of a disappointment to anyone who was looking forward to hearing "Fuse" push the decibel levels at the Bistro, Abbasi is a capable player who has a demonstrated rapport with Mahanthappa. Still, it's got to be a different group without Fiuczynski, and thus we now must offer news of the change as a caveat, since he's featured in pretty much all the video of Gamak available online.

Up top, there's a promotional clip for Gamak's first album, in which Mahanthappa discusses the recording and you can hear some brief musical excerpts. Down below, you can see several live performance videos, starting with an excerpt from a show recorded during the 2013 NYC Winter Jazzfest at Le Poisson Rouge with all four musicians who recorded the album.

Below that, there are two videos from a concert in May 2013 in Croatia, featuring Mahanthappa, Fiuczynski, Rich Brown on bass, and St. Louis-born Gene Lake, son of saxophonist Oliver Lake, on drums. The first includes the compositions "Stay I," "Slendro" and "Wrathful Wisdom," while the second is an extended version of "Abhogi."

In the fifth spot, there's a clip from August 2013 at the Novosadski Jazz Festival in Serbia with Mahanthappa, Fiuczynski, Brown on bass and Jordan Perlson on drums. The sixth and final video is a short interview with Mahanthappa from 2011, in which he discusses some of his teachers and musical influences.

For more about Rudresh Mahanthappa and Gamak, you can listen to this episode of NPR's "Piano Jazz" from May 2013, or check out this interview the saxophonist did last year with pianist George Colligan for Colligan's blog JazzTruth.