Vijay Iyer Trio: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

May 04, 2015by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON • Vijay Iyer is probably best known as a pianist and bandleader in the African-American creative improvisational tradition — most say "jazz" for short — though he's also several other things in music. He's a composer of chamber, large-ensemble and mixed-media works; a Harvard professor; a student of Indian classical music; a father and New York City resident. Committed as he is to multiplicity, there's one place where you can see many of his interests distilled at once: in the trio he's led for nearly a dozen years.
The long-standing relationship Iyer has forged with Stephan Crump (bass) and Marcus Gilmore (drums) accommodates all sorts of risk and translates into reward. The three play daring games of rhythmic interaction. They take Iyer's pieces designed for strings or big band and reduce without losing vitality. They do John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, Flying Lotus and M.I.A.
http://www.npr.org/event/music/404165838/vijay-iyer-trio-tiny-desk-concert