Rudresh Mahanthappa - 3.19 @ UB Center for the Arts

8pm, UB Center For The Arts, $34.50/ students $20.50 

Rudresh Mahanthappa is a gifted alto saxophonist with a great quintet and a new album called “Bird Calls.” That  album received “Album of the Year” by the jazz bible Downbeat Magazine. “Bird Calls” tributes Bebop legend Charlie Parker’s bebop creations and re-works them into new modern compositions. While Parker had Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet to bounce his improvisations off, Rudresh has twenty one year old phenom trumpeter Adam O’Farrill to trade his chops with. O’ Farrill is the son of Grammy winning pianist Arturo O’ Farrill and the grandson of legendary Afro-Cuban master composer Chico O’ Farrill. He is worth the price admission all by himself. The exchange of the two horns is what modern jazz is all about. Rounding out the band is Matt Mitchell on piano, Francois Moutin on double bass and Rudy Royston on drums. An evening of high energy jazz not to be missed.