Vijay Iyer Trio

Vijay Iyer was the jazz personality of 2012, when “Downbeat” polled 186 international music critics and honored him in no fewer than five separate categories. He won awards for Jazz Artist of the Year as well as top Pianist, Rising Star Composer, top Jazz Group (with his trio) and top Jazz Album (for his trio’s 2012 release, “Accelerando”). Needless to say, this majestic result was unprecedented in the 60-year history of the institution!

An American of Indian descent, Vijay Iyer is one of the most charismatic of the new generation of jazz musicians. His sound brings together the classic jazz tradition with his Asian heritage, modern idioms including rock, funk, soul, dub, electronica and hip hop, African polyrhythm and the 20th-century musicalities of Bartók, Messiaen, Ligeti, Reich…

His latest album is especially eclectic; rhythm-led, with the musicians seemingly graced with near telepathic abilities, the influences of Ellington, Coltrane and Monk are as palpable as the absence of musical preconceptions. Everything coexists pluralistically with the vibrant energy of dance and the pleasant shock of an avant-garde you can simply get down to and enjoy.