Historicity

Vijay Iyer

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 13, 2009)
• Original Release Date: October 13, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Act Music + Vision
• ASIN: B002EC3932
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #859 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

"Presto! Here is the great new jazz piano trio ... The new music by this New York pianist, 37, is just as quick coursing and strict rhythm dodging as the rest of his work back to the mid-1990s ... But here the result is sleeker, more stylish and tuneful, powerful without unnecessary bulk." -- New York Times

Product Description

"A boundless and deeply important young star." -- LA Weekly

"One of the most exciting new voices in jazz." -- Boston Globe

"One of the scene's most original players." -- The Wire

"One of the most original and accomplished young pianists in years." -- Village Voice

"A formidable force ... startlingly effective and unflinchingly forward-looking." -- Chicago Tribune

"A total triumph from beginning to end." -- All About Jazz

"Unfailingly imaginative and significant." -- JazzTimes

"One of the most intellectually restless improvising musicians in the world these days." -- Chicago Reader

* Twice voted the #1 Rising Star Jazz Artist and Rising Star Composer in DownBeat's International Critics' Poll, Vijay Iyer is a largely self-taught creative musician grounded in the American jazz lexicon and drawing from a range of Western and non-Western traditions.
* His widely acclaimed recordings on innovative labels like Pi Recordings, Sunnyside, and Savoy Jazz include Panoptic Modes (2001), Blood Sutra (2003), Reimagining (2005), Tragicomic (2008), Your Life Flashes (2002), Simulated Progress (2005), Door (2008), Raw Materials (2006), and many more.
* Historicity is informed by the constant transformative relationship between past and present. "It's just a condition of being alive," Iyer says. "We're always shaped by history, even as we reach into the future."
* Independent promoter Matt Merewitz will handle print promotion.
* Ads with DownBeat. Vijay Iyer: piano Stephan Crump: bass Marcus Gilmore: drums
* Historicity
* Somewhere
* Galang [Trio Riot Version]
* Helix
* Smoke Stack
* Big Brother
* Dogon A.D.
* Mystic Brew
* Trident: 2010
* Segment For Sentiment #2

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2009's best, December 14, 2009

By	Scott D. Reeves (Mason, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Historicity is the new trio album by the Vijay Iyer trio (Iyer on piano, Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums.) It is also, in my estimation, the best new jazz release of 2009. The album features 10 tunes and includes covers of such diverse songwriters as Andrew Hill, Stevie Wonder and Julius Hemphill. There are also three originals by Iyer.

The playing on this CD is wonderful - angular, virtuosic, intelligent. This is piano trio music for the 21st century. Just listen for the traces of the beautiful melody in the density of sound that the group achieves on their fantastic cover of Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere." The Hill number "Smokestack" is nearly as brilliant. I listen to dozens of jazz trio albums each year and while many (if not most) are enjoyable and musically competent, very few really having something new to say. Vijay Iyer's Historicity is one of those albums. Listen and hear for yourself.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond impressive, October 13, 2009

By	lee morgan (NYC, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

The trio, rather than the larger group with Rudresh on tenor, is really the perfect format for Vijay Iyer. This recording is simply stunning, whether youre a fan of extraordinary technique or pure improvisational chops. Just a cursory listen to how Vijay uses a standard like "Somewhere" as a vehicle for melodic and harmonic reinvention is worth the price of this recording. Among the covers here: Juluis Hemphill's Dogon AD and Smokestack which reveals the clear influence of Andrew Hill on Vijay. Simply stunning.

5.0 out of 5 stars Peerless wonder, March 11, 2010

By	Boxodreams "[e-mail]" (district of columbia) - See all my reviews

If somebody wrote a review that simply said, "This is not only the best jazz album of 2009 by miles but also one of the most thrilling, most imaginative trio albums ever committed to record," I'd probably buy the damn thing. So I'm saying it, so buy it.