Historicity

Twice voted both #1 Rising Star Jazz Artist and Rising Star Composer in Downbeat Magazine s International Critics' Poll, Vijay Iyer has been a compelling voice in modern jazz for more than a decade. Holding a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Yale and a Masters in Physics and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Technology and the Arts from UC Berkeley, Iyer is equally steeped in the science as well as the art of music. He s worked with a wide range of contemporary artists, including Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Amiri Baraka, Wadada Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Steve Lehman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Karsh Kale, and John Zorn, composed pieces for classical ensembles including the string quartet Ethel and Imani Winds, and scored film, dance and theater works. In the liner notes to his new album, Vijay Iyer elucidates the word historicity as the simple fact of being placed in the stream of history along with everything it may imply. It s the idea of present creation drawing from older sources that compelled Iyer to title his new trio CD Historicity. In one sense, the idea is quite literal, as more than half of the album consists of interpretations of other composer s material. One listen to his trio s performances of these tunes by composers ranging from Leonard Bernstein to Andrew Hill to Stevie Wonder to M.I.A. reveals a decidedly personal reimagining of each one. This project is very current for me, Iyer says, but in terms of content it s also meditating on history a little bit. This is music that I ve admired and cherished for a long time, but filtered through our language.

1. Historicity 7:50
2. Somewhere 6:57
3. Galang (Trio Riot Version) 2:40
4. Helix 4:00
5. Smoke Stack 8:09
6. Big Brother 4:47
7. Dogon A.D. 9:19
8. Mystic Brew 4:56
9. Trident: 2010 9:10
10. Segment For Sentiment #2 4:03