Rudresh Mahanthappa is a New York-based jazz musician. In part II thoftheinterview Rudresh talks about what it was growing up in the US, and how he made his decision to become a musician.

Rudresh grew up in Colorado and talks about what it was growing up and how he decided to become a musician. Growing up Rudresh had no role models when he decided to become a musician. “There was nothing else I wanted to do,” Rudhresh says. If he had not become a musician, Rudresh thinks he might have done something in math. “I am a numbers freak,” he says.”There were some tough times in the Mahanthappa household,” says Rudresh when he announced his decision to go to music school for his under-graduate studies. Often, Rudresh was the only Indian-American in his class. Listen to how Rudresh bridged the gap when he was in school.

Rudresh describes his music palette as eclectic and has incorported Indian music traditions in his music and compositions.

Recently, Rudresh and Vijay Iyer’s first album titled Raw Materials was released by Savoy Jazz. The two musicians have been working together for the past 10 years. Rudresh has worked as a sideman with jazz musicians such as David Murray, Steve Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Samir Chatterjee, Von Freeman, Tim Hagans, Fareed Haque, Vijay Iyer, Howard Levy, David Liebman, Greg Osby, and Dr. Lonnie Smith.

As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts to develop new work.

Rudresh lives with his family in New York.

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