Rajesh Metha Reconfigurations - Btl10180 - Jazz - by Between The Lines

In most cultures, numbers have been ascribed particular attributes and can serve to define human and cosmic developments. Independent of their mystic significance in religious contexts, numbers and mathematical laws have a determining influence on architecture, painting, literature and music. Rajesh Mehta is also fascinated by the mysticism of number and symbols and their relation to music. The Calcutta-born trumpeter is one of the few performers whose instrumental ventures actually break new ground. In the three parts of Reconfigurations, Mehta and "The Mehta-Metric Ensemble” create exceptional fields of sound which, despite the many, apparently coincidental, musical silhouettes that emerge, feature a mathematical connection between the individual motifs and the temporal sequence. It is hard to imagine that the surprising effect of his work, in which several predetermined patterns keep the action flowing, could be achieved without the inspiring collaboration of his group. The boundaries between melodic and rhythmic sequences start to disappear. Brief thematic statements and excitingly employed collective and individual episodes of improvisation are the appropriate means whereby the creative musicians unite into a whole the individual parts of the mosaic. Mehta draws inspiration for his music from the rich and many-hued tapestry of Indian music and the stimuli he received from his erstwhile teacher, the multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Mehta uses his different trumpets to create a vast variety of sound colour. He himself developed an unusual instrument featured on the CD, the "hybrid trumpet.” It consists of an array of several trumpets interconnected by plastic tubing. By using them at the same time or alternately, Rajesh Mehta can extend the range of microtonal events and sound nuances.