The Anthony H. P. Lee ’79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University, saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa has been named “Best Alto Saxophonist” in the JazzTimes 2017 Expanded Critics Poll, published in the March 2018 issue. For the poll, critics were asked to focus on artists’ achievements in 2017. Mahanthappa also came in third in the “Electric/Jazz-Rock/Contemporary Group/Artist” category.
The voting came on the heels of Mahanthappa’s October 2017 recording Agrima with the Indo-Pak Coalition featuring Rez Abbasi on guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla. The recording earned numerous 4-star reviews and wide acclaim as one of the best albums of 2017 from Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, Paste Magazine, JazzTimes and many others. The recording was released as a download as well as a limited edition deluxe double LP via rudreshm.com.
“It is both humbling and rewarding to have my music recognized by some of the top jazz journalists in the world,” says Mahanthappa who in addition to performing and recording widely with his own bands, is the Director of Jazz at Princeton University.
