vijay iyer's new album -- accelerando

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri May 11, 2012 7:33 pm

here is vijay iyer explaining the concept behind the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVK4un3qnXo

and it looks like it features another exploration of MJ's human nature which seems to have become one of iyer's favorite covers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAYiJx6-Eng&feature=related

i like the deeply introspective start, the syncopated passages starting round about 3.30, the frenzied passages in the middle (which seems to be theme of the album, accelerando) and then returning to the introspective passages at the end. i was left a bit dissatisfied that the introspective passages at the start and the end were too short. i wanted more, much more of it. iyer has found more territory to explore in MJ's original. he comes up with startling ideas towards the end. this is something i treasure about jazz -- taking a popular original and taking it to all corners of the jazz idiom which the original pop artist could never have envisioned. i don't know when this trend started. maybe coltrane's exploration of the sound of music classic, my favorite things. can't be sure. i am sure there are some good originals in the album too.

here is a times review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/arts/music/accelerando-by-the-vijay-iyer-trio.html

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri May 11, 2012 7:40 pm

there's something to be said for iyer's fiercely independent streak eschewing the kind of beaten path traditionalism that wynton marsalis insists upon. i think it helps him that he was not born to the tradition, one of the reasons marsalis's music has become a bit stale these days.

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri May 11, 2012 9:48 pm

the one thing i find really irritating about every times review of vijay iyer is their need to mention his southern indian ancestry and connection to carnatic music. did they also mention dave brubeck's english, native american, and swiss ancestry every time they wrote about him earlier in his career? it's as if they're saying, "look such an unlikely accomplishment coming from such a colossally different un-american background!" this is total nonsense. ellington and monk's influence on him, his physics and math background and his musical scholarship are vastly more important to his music than the fact that he is of southern indian extraction and that he was exposed to carnatic music when he was young, but the latter sounds more exotic to the NYT reviewer and so easier to write about.

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri May 11, 2012 10:06 pm

love this number's energy and marcus gilmore's frenzied drumwork.

little pocket size demons:
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/21/147061096/vijay-iyer-henry-threadgill-gets-a-fascinating-makeover

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat May 12, 2012 6:13 pm

his solo cover of human nature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7gkzJQzoFs

i think i like the trio cover better. far more energy.

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vijay iyer's new album -- accelerando

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