Jazz Articles about Vijay Iyer

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Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa: Raw Materials

by Troy Collins
May 26, 2006

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. ...

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Vijay Iyer

by Celeste Sunderland
July 9, 2005

Four years ago saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell needed a last-minute replacement to fill the piano seat on his European tour. He called Vijay Iyer.It was a breakthrough gig for the young pianist. When he got home to New York he played a tape recording for some friends.

“I was like, 'Guess who this is.' None of them thought it was me, Iyer reminisced. “I listened back and was like, 'What the hell am I doing? Who is ...

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Vijay Iyer: Reimagining

by Rex Butters
July 6, 2005

Vijay Iyer inhabits a musical universe like no other. Juxtaposing deceptively familiar jazz structures with scales and modes more intimate with Indian and classical musics, Iyer has successfully reinvented jazz syntax while remaining unmistakably a jazz artist.

He illuminates his reimaginings with a vicious virtuosity usually corroborated by the equally remarkable Rudresh Mahanthappa on saxophone. Mahanthappa's solos rocket out of nowhere to blaze across Iyer's compositions. Stephan Crump rejoins the quartet on bass, in between duties with Liberty Ellman, Jen ...

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Vijay Iyer: Reimagining

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
June 14, 2005

Whorls of piano, insistent rhythm, and keening saxophone evince a sense of urgency on “Revolutions, opening pianist Vijay Iyer's Reimagining and establishing its tone. For several years, Iyer has gained critical notice for his technique and its application in a variety of settings. His personalized sound draws from contemporary styles, traditional world music, and jazz and is delivered with an emphasis that reminds listeners the piano is a percussion instrument. Reimagining is the first of a multi-CD ...

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Vijay Iyer: Part 2-2

by Paul Olson
June 2, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 New York pianist/composer Vijay Iyer may be the musician of 2005. With his remarkable quartet and their fine new CD Reimagining, his collaborative, experimental trio Fieldwork (whose new CD Simulated Progress should turn some heads when it's released in July), his past and future collaborations with spoken-word/experimental hip-hop artist Mike Ladd, and his other ongoing projects, Iyer is undeniably active. He's also very, very good. I spoke with Iyer in Chicago a ...

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Vijay Iyer, Part 1-2

by Paul Olson
June 2, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 New York pianist/composer Vijay Iyer may be the musician of 2005. With his remarkable quartet and their fine new CD Reimagining, his collaborative, experimental trio Fieldwork (whose new CD Simulated Progress should turn some heads when it's released in July), his past and future collaborations with spoken-word/experimental hip-hop artist Mike Ladd, and his other ongoing projects, Iyer is undeniably active. He's also very, very good. I spoke with Iyer in Chicago a ...

like 473

Vijay Iyer: Reimagining

by Paul Olson
May 16, 2005

New York pianist/composer Vijay Iyer continues his string of remarkable recordings with his Savoy debut, Reimagining, his first release with his quartet since 2003's Blood Sutra. I hesitate to call this new CD his most mature statement to date, since Iyer sounded pretty fully-formed--and hardly callow--on his 1995 debut, Memorophilia. But I'll say it anyway: Reimagining might not reach the searing highs of Blood Sutra, but it substitutes an organic, austere consistency of vision and accomplishment that's simply stunning.

The ...