Vijay Iyer: Difference between revisions

| image              = Vijay_Iyer.jpg

| caption            =  Vijay Iyer performing in 2008

| genre              = [[Jazz]]

| occupation        = Musician, composer

'''Vijay Iyer''' {{IPA|[ˌvɪdʒeɪ ˈaɪjər]}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vijay-iyer.com/about/|title=About|last=Vijay|first=Team|date=November 20, 2012|website=Vijay Iyer|language=en-US|access-date=September 25, 2019}}</ref> (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer, and writer based in [[New York City]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/20/arts/vijay-iyer-performs-at-bam-harvey-theater.html |title="Music Review: Conscience of a Composer," by Jon Pareles, The New York Times |work=nytimes.com |date=December 19, 2014 |access-date=April 10, 2020}}</ref> Iyer received a [[MacArthur Fellows Program|2013 MacArthur Fellowship]], a [[Doris Duke Performing Artist Award]], a [[United States Artists]] Fellowship, a [[Grammy Awards|Grammy]] nomination, and the [[Alpert Award in the Arts]]. In 2014 he received a lifetime appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at [[Harvard University]], where he is jointly appointed in the Department of Music<ref>"We are so very pleased to announce that Vijay Iyer has accepted our offer to join the Department of Music in January 2014. Vijay will be the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts." Harvard Music Department Facebook page, July 12, 2013.</ref> and the Department of African and African American Studies.<ref>Harvard Department of African and African American Studies webpage, accessed April 10, 2020.</ref>

Born in [[Albany, New York|Albany]] and raised in [[Fairport, New York]] (a suburb of [[Rochester, New York]]),<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130925/ENT01/309250024/ |title=Fairport High School grad Vijay Iyer awarded genius grant &#124; Democrat and Chronicle |publisher=Democratandchronicle.com |date=September 25, 2013 |access-date=April 5, 2015}}</ref> Iyer is the son of Indian [[Tamils|Tamil]] immigrants to the United States.<ref name="wizard">{{cite web |author= Arindam Mukherjee |title= The Wizard of Jazz |url= http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/arts/the-wizard-of-jazz |work = Open magazine |date= February 6, 2010 |access-date= February 10, 2010}}</ref> He received 15 years of Western classical training on violin beginning at the age of three. He began playing the piano by ear in his childhood and is mostly self-taught on that instrument.<ref name="wizard" />

After completing an [[undergraduate degree]] in mathematics and physics at [[Yale University]], Iyer attended the [[University of California, Berkeley]], initially to pursue a doctorate in physics. He continued to pursue his musical interests, playing in ensembles led by drummers E. W. Wainwright and [[Donald Bailey (musician)|Donald Bailey]]. In 1994, he started working with [[Steve Coleman]] and [[George Lewis (trombonist)|George E. Lewis]].

In 1995, concurrently with his composing, recording and touring, he left the Berkeley physics department and assembled an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Technology and the Arts, focusing on [[music cognition]]. His 1998 dissertation, ''Microstructures of Feel, Macrostructures of Sound: Embodied Cognition in West African and African-American Musics'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.cnmat.berkeley.edu/People/Vijay/00.0%20title%20%26approval%20pages.html#anchor15851920 |title=Microstructures of Feel, Macrostructures of Sound: Embodied Cognition in West African and African-American Musics |publisher=Archive.cnmat.berkeley.edu |access-date=April 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193331/http://archive.cnmat.berkeley.edu/People/Vijay/00.0%20title%20%26approval%20pages.html#anchor15851920 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> applied the dual frameworks of [[embodied cognition]] and [[situated cognition]] to music. His graduate advisor was music perception and computer music researcher David Wessel, with further guidance from [[Olly Wilson]], George E. Lewis, [[Donald Glaser]], and Erv Hafter.

==Performing==

Iyer performs internationally with his ensembles and in collaborations. Best known among these is his award-winning trio with Stephan Crump and [[Marcus Gilmore]], featured on three albums: [[Break Stuff (album)|''Break Stuff'']] (2015, ECM), [[Accelerando (album)|''Accelerando'']] (2012, ACT) and [[Historicity (album)|''Historicity'']] (2009, ACT); his sextet with [[Graham Haynes]], [[Steve Lehman (composer)|Steve Lehman]], [[Mark Shim]], Crump, and [[Tyshawn Sorey]], featured on [[Far from Over (Vijay Iyer album)|''Far From Over'']] (2017, ECM); and his duo project with [[Wadada Leo Smith]], documented on ''[[A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke]]'' (2016, ECM). He has collaborated with [[Amiri Baraka]], [[Teju Cole]], [[Wadada Leo Smith]], [[Steve Coleman]], [[Roscoe Mitchell]], [[Oliver Lake]], [[Henry Threadgill]], [[Reggie Workman]], [[Andrew Cyrille]], [[Amina Claudine Myers]], [[Butch Morris]], [[George Lewis (trombonist)|George E. Lewis]], [[Craig Taborn]], [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]], Kassa Overall, [[Linda May Han Oh]], [[Liberty Ellman]], [[Robert Stewart (saxophonist)|Robert Stewart]], Yosvany Terry, [[Okkyung Lee]], [[Miya Masaoka]], [[Francis Wong]], Hafez Modirzadeh, [[Amir ElSaffar]], [[Matana Roberts]], [[Trichy Sankaran]], [[L. Subramaniam]], [[Zakir Hussain (musician)|Zakir Hussain]], [[Aruna Sairam]], [[Pamela Z]], [[Burnt Sugar]], [[Karsh Kale]], [[Mike Ladd]], [[DJ Spooky]], [[dead prez]], HPrizm, [[Das Racist]], [[Himanshu Suri]], [[Will Power]], [[Karole Armitage]], the [[Brentano Quartet]], the [[Imani Winds]], the [[International Contemporary Ensemble]], the Parker Quartet, [[Matt Haimovitz]], [[Claire Chase]], [[Jennifer Koh]], Miranda Cuckson, [[Prashant Bhargava]], and [[Haile Gerima]].

In 1996, Iyer began collaborating with saxophonist [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]], resulting in five albums under Iyer's name (''[[Architextures]]'' (1998), ''[[Panoptic Modes]]'' (2001), ''[[Blood Sutra]]'' (2003), [[Reimagining (album)|''Reimagining'']] (2005), and [[Tragicomic (album)|''Tragicomic'']] (2008)), three under Mahanthappa's name (''Black Water'', ''Mother Tongue'', ''Code Book''), and a duo album, ''Raw Materials'' (2004).

Iyer has been active as a composer of concert music. His composition ''Mutations I-X'' was commissioned and premiered by the string quartet [[Ethel (string quartet)|Ethel]] in 2005. It was released on CD by [[ECM Records]] in 2014. His orchestral work ''Interventions'' was commissioned and premiered in 2007 by the [[American Composers Orchestra]] conducted by [[Dennis Russell Davies]]. Iyer co-created the score for [[Teza (film)|''Teza'']] (2009), by the filmmaker [[Haile Gerima]]. He collaborated with filmmaker [[Bill Morrison (director)|Bill Morrison]] on the short film and audiovisual installation ''Release'', commissioned by the [[Eastern State Penitentiary]] (2009) in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], which is now operated as an historic site.

In 2011 he created ''Mozart Effects'', commissioned by the [[Brentano String Quartet]] as a response to an unfinished fragment by [[Mozart]]. He also created and performed the score to ''UnEasy'', a ballet choreographed by [[Karole Armitage]] and commissioned by [[Central Park Summerstage]]. In 2012 the [[Silk Road Ensemble]] debuted his commissioned piece, ''Playlist for an Extreme Occasion'', which appears on their 2013 album ''A Playlist Without Borders''. In 2013 the [[International Contemporary Ensemble]] premiered his composition ''Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi'', a large-scale collaboration with filmmaker [[Prashant Bhargava]] commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts in commemoration of the centenary of [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s ''[[The Rite of Spring]]''. In 2013 [[Brooklyn Rider]] premiered and recorded his string quartet "Dig the Say". In 2014 Iyer premiered ''Time, Place, Action'', a piano quintet he performed with the Brentano Quartet, and "Bruits", a sextet for [[Imani Winds]] and pianist Cory Smythe. Later that year the moving images by Bhargava, combined with Iyer's music, were released on [[ECM Records]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ecmrecords.com/Catalogue/ECM_Cinema/5507_DVD.php |title=ECM 5507_DVD |publisher=Ecmrecords.com |date=November 7, 2014 |access-date=April 5, 2015}}</ref> In 2015 Iyer had pieces premiered by cellist [[Matt Haimovitz]] ("Run" for solo cello, an overture to [[BWV 1009|Bach's Cello Suite No. 3]]) and violinist [[Jennifer Koh]] ("Bridgetower Fantasy," a companion piece to [[Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata]]).<ref>[http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=2920] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072041/http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=2920 |date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref> In 2016 he premiered ''Emergence'' for trio and orchestra, with his trio with Stephan Crump and [[Tyshawn Sorey]] plus the [[National Forum of Music|Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra]] in [[Wrocław]], [[Poland]]. In 2017 he composed ''Trouble'' for violin and orchestra, premiered by [[Jennifer Koh]] and [[International Contemporary Ensemble]] at [[Ojai Music Festival]], ''Asunder'' commissioned by [[Orpheus Chamber Orchestra]], and ''The Law of Returns'' for piano quartet. In 2019 he composed ''Crisis Modes'' for strings and percussion, co-commissioned by [[LA Phil]], [[Kölner Philharmonie]], and [[Wigmore Hall]], ''Hallucination Party'' commissioned by Mishka Rushdie Momen and recorded on her album ''Variations,'' and ''Song for Flint'' for viola solo, commissioned by [[Miller Theatre]] at [[Columbia University]] and premiered in Iyer's Portrait Concert there on October 24, 2019. Iyer was the Composer-in-Residence at [[Wigmore Hall]] in [[London, England]] for their 2019-20 season.

In 2014 Iyer joined the senior faculty in the Department of Music at [[Harvard University]] as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts. In 2018 he received a joint appointment with Harvard's Department of African and African American Studies.

Previously Iyer was a faculty member at the [[Manhattan School of Music]], [[New York University]], [[The New School]], and the School for Improvisational Music.<ref name="wizard" /> His writings appear in various journals and anthologies. He is a [[Steinway & Sons|Steinway]] artist and uses [[Ableton Live]] software.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.actmusic.com/en/Artists/Vijay-Iyer/Biografie|title = Biografie - Vijay Iyer|publisher = Actmusic.com|access-date=April 5, 2015}}</ref> He was the 2015–16 Artist in Residence at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/met-museum-presents-blog/2015/resident-artist-vijay-iyer-takes-the-stage|title=Resident Artist Vijay Iyer Takes the Stage|first=Meryl |last=Cates|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=November 10, 2015|access-date= October 21, 2017}}</ref>

The jazz album ''Break Stuff'' received five stars (highest rating) in the March 2015 issue of ''[[DownBeat]]'' magazine, was listed as one of the best albums of 2015 in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'',<ref>{{cite news| url=http://time.com/4131352/top-10-albums/| author=Nolan Feeney| title=Top 10 Best Albums| work=Time| date=December 1, 2015| access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> NPR,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.npr.org/2015/12/07/458447213/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2015| title=NPR Music's 50 favorite albums of 2015| website=Npr.org| date=December 7, 2015| access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> ''Slate'',<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2015/12/best_jazz_albums_of_2015_plus_the_best_reissues_vijay_iyer_john_zorn_maria.html| title=The Best Jazz Albums of 2015| author=Fred Kaplan| publisher=Slate| date=December 15, 2015| access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/arts/music/best-albums-of-2015.html?_r=0| title=The Best Albums of 2015| last1=Pareles| first1=Jon| last2=Ratliff| first2 = Ben| last3 = Caramanica| first3 = Jon| last4 = Chinen| first4 = Nate| date=December 9, 2015| access-date=September 6, 2016| work=The New York Times}}</ref> the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'',<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-best-jazz-barton-20151213-story.html| title=2015's must hear-jazz albums carve new paths and communicate eloquently| author=Chris Barton| work=Los Angeles Times| date=December 11, 2015| access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> ''[[The Boston Globe]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/12/12/the-best-albums-jon-garelick/165C7BRGF5EavPk91aMsNK/story.html|title=The Best Albums of 2015: Jon Garelick |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|access-date= October 21, 2017}}</ref> Allmusic,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2015/favorite-jazz-albums|title=Favorite Jazz Albums - AllMusic 2015 in Review|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date= October 21, 2017}}</ref> and ''PopMatters'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/feature/the-best-jazz-of-2015/P1/|title=The Best Jazz of 2015|website=Popmatters.com|access-date= October 21, 2017}}</ref> and won the ''[[Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik]]'' (the German Record Critics' prize) of the year.

He was awarded a 2012 [[Doris Duke Performing Artist Award]], the 2012 [[Greenfield Prize]] for Music, and an unprecedented "triple crown" in the 2012 ''DownBeat'' International Jazz Critics Poll, in which he was voted Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Small Group of the Year (for the Vijay Iyer Trio), Album of the Year (for ''Accelerando''), and Rising Star Composer of the Year. He received a 2013 [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur fellowship]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/macarthur-genius-award-winners-named.html?smid=pl-share| title=24 Recipients of MacArthur 'Genius' Awards Named| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=April 5, 2015}}</ref> a 2013 Trailblazer Award by the Association of South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment (SAMMA), and a 2013 [[Echo Music Prize|ECHO Award]] for Best Jazz Pianist (International). He was voted 2014 Pianist of the Year and 2015 Jazz Artist of the Year in the ''DownBeat'' International Jazz Critics Poll. He was critics' Jazz Artist of the Year again in 2016 and in 2018, and his sextet was voted 2018 Jazz Group of the Year.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=August 2018 |title=66th Annual Critics Poll Complete Results |magazine=DownBeat |pages=52–53}}</ref> He was also voted Artist of the Year in ''[[JazzTimes]]''{{'}}s 2017 Critics' Poll and the 2017 Readers' Poll.

 

===As leader/co-leader===

|One track solo piano; some tracks trio, with Jeff Brock (bass), Brad Hargreaves (drums); some tracks quartet, with Steve Coleman (alto sax) added; one track quartet with Liberty Ellman (guitar), Jeff Bilmes (electric bass), Elliot Humberto Kavee (drums); some tracks quintet, with Francis Wong (tenor sax), George Lewis (trombone), Kash Killion (cello), Kavee (drums)

|Improv/Giant

|

|2000

|Quartet, with [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]] (alto sax), Stephan Crump (bass), Derrek Phillips (drums)

|2002

|With [[Mike Ladd]]

|2003

|Quartet, with [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]] (alto sax), Stephan Crump (bass), [[Tyshawn Sorey]] (drums)

|2004

|2004

|Quartet, with [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]] (alto sax), Stephan Crump (bass), [[Marcus Gilmore]] (drums)

|Duo, with [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]]

|2007

|Quartet, with [[Rudresh Mahanthappa]] (alto sax), Stephan Crump (bass), [[Marcus Gilmore]] (drums)

|2007

|As Fieldwork; trio, with [[Steve Lehman (composer)|Steve Lehman]] (alto sax, sopranino sax), [[Tyshawn Sorey]] (drums)

|Trio, with [[R. Prasanna|Prasanna]] (guitar, vocals), Nitin Mitta (tabla)

|Trio, with Stephan Crump (bass), [[Marcus Gilmore]] (drums)

|2011

|Trio, with Stephan Crump (bass), [[Marcus Gilmore]] (drums)

|2013

|2013

|Film by [[Prashant Bhargava]]

|2014

|Trio, with Stephan Crump (bass), [[Marcus Gilmore]] (drums)

|2015

|Sextet, with Graham Haynes (cornet, flugelhorn, electronics), Mark Shim (tenor sax), Steve Lehman (alto sax), Stephan Crump (bass), [[Tyshawn Sorey]] (drums)

|2018

|2021

===As sideman===

'''With [[Burnt Sugar]]'''

* [[Das Racist]], ''[[Sit Down, Man]]'' ([[Greedhead Music|Greedhead]] / Mad Decent, 2010)

* [[Amiri Baraka]], ''The Shani Project'' (Brown Sound, 2004)

* [[Arturo O'Farrill]], ''The Offense of the Drum'' ([[Motéma Music|Motéma]], 2014)

* Trio Three, ''[[Wiring (album)|Wiring]]'' ([[Intakt Records|Intakt]], 2014)

*{{cite journal |author=Wilkinson, Alec |date=February 1, 2016 |title=Time is a ghost : Vijay Iyer's jazz vision |department=Onward and Upward with the Arts |journal=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=91 |issue=46 |pages=22–28 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/01/time-is-a-ghost <!--access-date=2016-06-06-->}}

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