Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Vijay Iyer: Uneasy

9

Vijay Iyer: Uneasy

By

View read count
Vijay Iyer: Uneasy
If we are watching it all unfold in real time, why not listen in the same way? So, like most things these dire days, Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey start Uneasy on a slow burn that engulfs the listener into another realm beyond isolation, beyond our societies of one.

As the best street music does, Uneasy presents a riot of ideas. Some are finely hewn, others mere hints. Some suggest joy and sorrow, others just suggest. "Children of Flint" stalks the listener, casting shadows. Yet between those shadows, light. Acrobatic by nature, the trio surges forward, playing as if this could be the last thing they play together, the last discussion about justice they'll ever have. Written in yet another tumultuous year for humankind (2014), the oddly choreographed "Combat Breathing," centered by Oh's rich, reflective, hopeful solo and Sorey's deft handling, continues the dialog brazenly.

Brazen too is the breakneck run around Cole Porter's endlessly enjoyable "Night and Day." In the wrong hands the old repertoire warhorse becomes either parody or scholarly interpretation. In the right hands, these particular six hands, here you have it, a darting, robust statement that all is not lost in the blue screen flare. The big screen stare need not make us complacent or joyless. The music, and the spirit it enraptures, move us to smiles.

But it is all an ongoing reconciliation. With its wide, ambient space allowing for anything to enter the frame, "Touba" follows, and one envisions the cities on fire, the prayers for rain and consolation. Geri Allen's "Drummer's Song" is a hypnotic bramble that finds Sorey breaking loose from Allen's melodic sport while Iyer punches insistently at its core. Alone at his instrument, Iyer looks back and "Augury" captures purely the exact same moments of question that we have all experienced countlessly of late. First heard in quartet form on Panoptic Modes (Red Giant, 2001) (re-released in 2010 by Pi Recordings) "Configurations" adapts boldly as Oh re-imagines Stephan Crump's vigorous lines while Iyer and Sorey set out for new horizons. Horizons unveiled via "Entrustment." Horizons that, throughout Uneasy, Iyer, Oh, and Sorey implore us to seek.

Track Listing

Children of Flint; Combat Breathing; Night and Day; Touba; Drummer's Song; Augury; Configurations; Uneasy; Retrofit; Entrustment.

Personnel

Linda May Han Oh
bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Uneasy | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.