Rudresh Mahanthappa
Mahanthappa’s “Bird at 100” took an innovative approach to Charlie Parker’s music. Rather than playing Parker’s music straight up, he presented Parker in the eyes of Mahanthappa. We would hear a familiar Parker tune, but the improvisations were Mahanthappa’s from beginning to end. With trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, Mahanthappa’s quintet breezed through Parker tunes like “Segment,” “Dewey Square” and “Blues for Alice.” O’Farrill had a fat round tone in his horn and impressed throughout. So did pianist/keyboardist Kris Davis; her intuition of the right note and when to play it kept her out of the realm of bombast yielding dynamic prowess in crystalline clusters. Terri Lyne Carrington was solid as a rock, as has become her trademark.