Fri Mar 14
Vijay Iyer Trio
9:30PM / $50 | $7 Fees Get Tickets
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer’s ever-evolving trio conception, developed over 30 years with an enviable roster of state-of-the-art bassists and drummers, finds inspiration in the trio music of Ahmad Jamal, the Ellington/Mingus/Roach summit Money Jungle, Andrew Hill’s Smokestack, McCoy Tyner’s 1970s ensembles, the rhythm-section alchemies of James Brown, Fela Kuti, and the Meters, South Asian rhythmic forms, and the expressive nuance of chamber music. The results, over the span of his trio’s five pivotal recordings and hundreds of performances, have not only defied the old categories, but created entirely new ones.
Composer-pianist VIJAY IYER has carved out a unique path as an influential, shape-shifting presence in 21st-century music. His deeply interactive, powerfully expressive musical language is indebted to the composer-pianist lineage from Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen, the creative music movement of the 60s and 70s, and rhythmic traditions of South Asia and West Africa. He has released twenty-six widely praised albums; received three Grammy nominations, numerous national and international prizes, and a MacArthur Fellowship. But Iyer’s artistry finds perhaps its purest expression in his most celebrated group, the Vijay Iyer Trio, praised by NPR as “truly astonishing” and by The New York Times as “one of the best bands in jazz.”
Over the years this pivotal ensemble has nurtured a remarkable roster of now-revered young musicians. Their three groundbreaking albums – Historicity (ACT, 2009), Accelerando (ACT, 2012), and Break Stuff (ECM, 2015), received universal acclaim in the jazz and mainstream press, each one winning multiple awards for best album, best jazz group, and best pianist, and cementing a place for Iyer in the modern musical firmament. In 2021, an all-star incarnation of Iyer’s trio with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey released Uneasy (ECM), which was named one of the best jazz albums of 2021 by Pitchfork, The New Yorker, NPR, the Boston Globe, and numerous other publications. The group’s riveting 2024 follow-up Compassion (ECM) was named one of the best albums of 2024 by The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, NPR, The Wire, and The Denver Post, and was hailed by Forbes as “a masterful work that overflows with beauty, feeling, warmth and sensitivity.”
Iyer’s ever-evolving trio conception, developed over 30 years with an enviable roster of state-of-the-art bassists and drummers, finds inspiration in the trio music of Ahmad Jamal, the Ellington/Mingus/Roach summit Money Jungle, Andrew Hill’s Smokestack, McCoy Tyner’s 1970s ensembles, the rhythm-section alchemies of James Brown, Fela Kuti, and the Meters, South Asian rhythmic forms, and the expressive nuance of chamber music. The results, over the span of his trio’s five pivotal recordings and hundreds of performances, have not only defied the old categories, but created entirely new ones.
"a set of modern piano jazz that covers a remarkable range and features three brilliant musical imaginations that play well together...it is dazzling - seeming to give the listener every chance to really understand it..." - Popmatters
9:30PM / $50 | $7 Fees Get Tickets
1. Final sale, no refunds, not transferable.
2. $15 food/beverage minimum per person not included in ticket price.
3. Seating first come at the door. Doors open 6 PM & 8:45 PM respectively.
4. Photography or Recording of any kind is prohibited during the performance.
5. Keep conversation to a minimum during the performance.