Jazz Articles about Vijay Iyer

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Vijay Iyer: Into The Mainstream

by AAJ Staff
December 21, 2009

New York-based pianist and composer Vijay Iyer is a rhythmic explorer whose piano trio album Historicity (ACT, 2009) is a cohesive and vibrant record that carries its creator and his colleagues firmly into the mainstream of modern music. The album stems from, among other sources, a succession of striking piano trio influences such as Duke Ellington's trio recording with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, Money Jungle (Blue Note, 1962), the small group Blue Note recordings by Andrew Hill, and the ...

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Vijay Iyer: Historicity

by Chris Kompanek
November 13, 2009

Pianist Vijay Iyer's compositions are ferociously paced and fractured with a sense of urgency that informs each note he plays. Historicity's title track opens the record, grabbing the listener immediately with the pianist's unique touch, carrying through on other original compositions such as “Helix"--a ballad on the surface that explodes midway through with frenetic energy. This energy is also felt on his interpretations of other composers. Standouts include his 'versioning' of M.I.A.'s “Galang," which utilizes rhythmic phrases to retain the ...

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 2, 2009

"But if Coltrane can do 'My Favorite Things,' I can do 'Somewhere.'" Dietro questa affermazione ironicamente presuntuosa e irriverente, si cela il volto, anzi la mente, di quel geniaccio, termine abusato ma che ci sentiamo di attribuire senza tentennamenti, di Vijay Iyer. Non più di primissimo pelo, va per i trentasei, nato negli Stati Uniti da emigranti indiani, Vijay Iyer con una manciata di dischi diluiti in tre lustri (molti dei quali con il fido sassofonista Rudresh Mahnthappa) ha fatto ...

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

by Chris May
October 9, 2009

There is much that is exciting about pianist Vijay Iyer and almost as much that is irritating. The excitement is in the music and the irritation in the miasma of cerebralization that surrounds it. The most recent instance of the latter comes with the packaging for Historicity. Any album title which requires a fairly lengthy liner note to explain it, and which starts, elliptically and gratuitously, with a quote from Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci's The Prison Notebooks, rings alarm bells. ...

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

by Troy Collins
October 8, 2009

The art of the piano trio has enjoyed a healthy renaissance over the past two decades, as a plethora of new stars have ascended the ranks to uphold and advance the tradition. Ethan Iverson, Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, and Matthew Shipp are just a few of the adventurous younger artists whose notion of the trio is anything but staid, yet firmly linked to the hallowed format's core principles of intimate three-way communication.

Add to this short list Vijay ...

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Vijay Iyer and His Trio Come to Williamstown, MA

by Lyn Horton
May 22, 2009

Vijay Iyer Trio Williamstown Jazz Festival Sterling and Francine Art Institute Williamstown, Massachusetts May 6, 2009

Last year, Vijay Iyer produced the much acclaimed Tragicomic with a quartet that included alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. But, for the Williamstown Jazz Festival, Iyer assembled a trio portion of the same group. Stephan Crump played the bass; Marcus Gilmore was on drums; and Iyer, on piano. The trio performed as if ...

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Vijay Iyer: Tragicomic

by Lyn Horton
June 12, 2008

Expressing everything that is possible at one point in time is how art comes about. For visual artists, the limitations of the chosen medium frame and freeze the passion of the art. For musicians, the parameters comply with a different set of conditions. Music is concerned with time and the kinds of changes that occur within it. How those changes affect the listener complete a never-ending cyclical relationship.

Nowhere is this relationship clearer than on pianist Vijay Iyer's self-produced Tragicomic. ...