Rudresh Mahanthappa & Vijay Iyer - Raw Materials (2006) CDRip

After being introduced to one another by M-Base saxophonist Steve Coleman a decade ago, pianist Vijay Iyer and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthapa have shared a long and fruitful career together. Both are founding members in each other's ensembles: Mahanthappa is the principle foil in Iyer's long running quartet, and vice versa in Mahanthappa's own group. Recently they have spent a considerable amount of time playing as a duo dubbed Raw Materials. This self-titled album is their debut recording.

Iyer and Mahanthappa share the spotlight as equals, trading solos and cadenzas while providing each other rhythmic support and harmonic counterpoint, without ever falling into clichéd patterns. With similar genealogical backgrounds, their shared history runs deeper than most duos, enriching their synergistic rapport. Sharing progressive conceptual points of view, Iyer and Mahanthappa straddle opposing ideological worlds, blending mainstream virtuosity with avant-garde expressivity. Strident but not histrionic, they play with exuberance on assertive passages and restraint during introspective moments.

Their shared sensibility engenders the album with a distinctive, formalist identity. Even more telling, twelve of thirteen tracks are culled from a suite, "Sangha: Collaborative Fables," further cementing the album's stylistic focus.