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NPR MUSIC :: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo'

"The piano was around because my sister was taking lessons, and so I just started messing on it and figuring things out little by little," Iyer tells Terry Gross. "I can't really pinpoint the beginning of it." Full Article

The Prague Post :: Embracing the spectrum

From The Village Voice to The San Francisco Chronicle, Iyer's music continues to garner positive reviews across the United States and beyond. Downbeat Magazine's respected international critic's poll recently selected Vijay Iyer Trio's CD Historicity as album of 2010. More praise came last July when GQ India chose Iyer, with conductor Zubin Metha, journalist Fareed Zakaria and novelist Salman Rushdie as one of the 50 most influential Indians. Full Article

PITCHFORK :: SOLO

Vijay Iyer is, simply put, one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today. His 15-year recording career has found him equally at home as a leader and collaborator. He's a member of Fieldwork, has worked with hip-hop producer Mike Ladd and innovative saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, he's been involved with members of the M-Base improvisation collective and written orchestral works-- he's even on the new Das Racist mixtape (he co-produced the hidden track, "Free Jazzmataz"). Last year, he made some waves outside of jazz with his trio's thunderous cover of M.I.A.'s "Galang", and this year he received the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award as Musician of the Year, which is a pretty big deal (he's keeping company with Ornette Coleman and Herbie Hancock there). Full Article

DUSTED :: Autoscopy

After more than a dozen albums as headman or co-leader since 1995, Vijay Iyer has finally released a solo album. In many ways, Solo follows a clear lineage through the more intimate and lyrical sounds that Iyer has been cultivating during the past few years. And yet, there is a drastic shift in mood and focus. The title of one of his centerpiece compositions may hint at this: "Autoscopy" refers to the out-of-body feeling that Iyer claims to experience when he plays music. "You observe your actions from outside of (usually above) your body," he writes. As an album, Solo is so intensely introspective, it becomes less about the subjective self and more about a simultaneous inside and outside view of Iyer as a musical vessel. Full Article

JAMBANDS :: VIJAY IYER

Following up on the critical acclaim of his 2009 trio album Historicity, New York City-based piano guru Vijay Iyer steps out on his own with his debut solo endeavor appropriately titled, well, Solo. Produced by the artist in tandem with Grammy Award-winning sound engineer Cookie Marenco (Max Roach, Brad Mehldau, Buckethead, Charlie Haden), Iyer stitches together a seamless quilt of the varied playing styles that have shaped his skills as a performer—running the gamut of sounds that ranges from the quaint to the cacophonous. This 11-track collection kicks off with a gorgeous, straightforward reflection on Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," which Iyer had started performing in concert following the King of Pop's tragic death last summer, making the ballad's unforgettable melody his own with an intimacy that reveals his lifelong connection to the Thriller smash. Full Article

Hour Magazine :: SOLO

There is an air of complete authority in the dark-hued tones of pianist Vijay Iyer's playing, a gravitas that carries the listener to the depths of human feeling. Full Article

DOWNBEAT :: Vijay Iyer Solo

Much of the acclaimed Vijay Iyer has earned in the past few years has been tied to the rhythmic concept of his remarkable bands. His drummers are paramount participants, charging the action and goading the pianist to deeper levels of engagement. Full Article

phrequency :: Vijay Iyer Interview

This Saturday evening in conjunction with the Philadelphia Fringe Fesitval, the Eastern State Penitentiary will host a very special performance from prolific jazz star Vijay Iyer. Only 37 years old, Iyer has more than 12 albums under his belt and some interesting production credits. Last year's Historicity was named the #1 Jazz Album of the Year by the New York Times. His solo effort, appropriately named Solo was released August 31st.

Iyer will be playing his new album Solo in its entirety as well as an expanded version of the score to "Release", a collaboration between himself and filmmaker Bill Morrison, who created a 12-minute film with archival footage of Al Capone's release from the Penitentiary in 1930. The film will run on a loop in Capone's cell. Full Article

New Jersey Online :: Rising star Vijay Iyer returns, unaccompanied

Jazz hasn't had a presence on the pop charts in decades, but the music still has its fair share of artists with a buzz. Typically a hot young lion, a journeyman who breaks through mid-career or an old master who gets some well-deserved attention near the end, these musicians captivate the jazz-listening public's imagination, taking their careers to new levels in the process. Full Article

the wall street journal :: The Neuroscience of Jazz

Among the young lions of jazz piano, Indian- American artist Vijay Iyer is a standout. He is perpetually on "best of" lists, most recently as the recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association 2010 award for Musician of the Year (an honor previously given to Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman and Wayne Shorter). His 2009 recording, "Historicity," was chosen as the No. 1 jazz album by myriad critics in the U.S. and in Europe. And his newest effort, "Solo," released last week, is already garnering raves. He'll be celebrating with a performance at (Le) Poisson Rouge, New York's Greenwich Village music club, on Sept. 10. Full Article

NPR MUSIC :: Vijay Iyer On Piano Jazz

Vijay Iyer's story is not uncommon in modern jazz. He's mostly self-taught (although he did study the Suzuki method for violin) and played in rock bands as a kid before turning to the piano and jazz. But as a highly trained scientist who holds degrees in mathematics and physics, including an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Technology and the Arts from the University of California at Berkeley, Iyer is unique in drawing on the modern technological world as a major compositional influence on his trio. What is old becomes new again in Iyer, as he embodies a Renaissance approach to blending science and art. Full Article

DOWNBEAT :: Editors' Picks: September

For me, there's something special about solo piano records. When they are done right, you can really hear the inner beauty of the music and the musician — their concept of rhythm and melody, breath, art and life. On Solo, we find the gifted pianist Vijay Iyer taking his turn in this solitary proving ground, and the results are stunning. Iyer has been gaining the attention of audiences and the critical community alike. Full Article

Music & More :: Solo

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer has been on a very successful roll lately with well received albums and collaborations. He has also been re-examining his music, and paring away anything that is superfluous or unnecessary to his music. That aesthetic really shows on this album, featuring him in a solo context and honing his own music and the music he interprets into a well defined crystalline clarity. He opens with a surprising cover of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," but there is nothing coy or ironic about this choice. Full Article

The Boston Globe :: Solo

When a pianist of Vijay Iyer's caliber waits this long to put out a solo album — he turns 40 next year and has 10 previous discs to his name — it must be that he's been waiting until he's ready. In that regard, last year's "Historicity'' — his first trio album — can almost be viewed as a prelude to "Solo.'' Full Article

AOL Spinner :: Vijay Iyer Has Nowhere to Hide on 'Solo'

It seems that pianist Vijay Iyer has been getting accolades from everywhere since the release of 2009's 'Historicity.' The trio album won awards in Downbeat and the Village Voice's year-end polls, and not to be outdone, the Jazz Journalist Association recently picked him as Musician of the Year. GQ India even listed him as one of the 50 Most Influential International Indians. Full Aricle

cmj :: solo

After winning raves for last year's collaborative album Historicity and collaborating with everyone from Steve Coleman to DJ Spooky, pianist/composer Vijay Iyer goes, well, you saw the album title. Full Article

Audiophile Audition :: Solo Act

After listening to pianist Vijay Iyer's first solo album, simply titled Solo, the initial inquiry is: what took so long? Iyer's multifaceted career has been fruitful: he worked with Steve Coleman and the M-Base collective in the mid 1990s, collaborated with Roscoe Mitchell and Wadada Leo Smith, has been involved in classical commissions, rock projects and traditional Indian music and earlier this year was named Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. In addition, Iyer has already done solo tours, so this unaccompanied studio excursion was the logical next step. Full Article

something else reviews :: Vijay Iyer Solo 2010

When a great, small combo jazz pianist makes a solo record, it usually doesn't signal that pianist's arrival, it means he's solidifying his legacy. We witnessed this with Art Tatum's Solo Masterpieces recordings made at the end of his life. The same goes with Bill Evans' Alone recorded several years after his Village Vanguard apex. Chick Corea's first solo piano recordings were made before Return To Forever but after his signature Now He Sings, Now He Sobs album, the short lived but highly acclaimed Circle band he co-led and of course his stint in Miles Davis' band during a very creative time. Full Article

LA Times :: Vijay Iyer's jazz pulls from grab bag of genres and years

Critical acclaim can be a tricky thing. While no musician would reject it, when an album becomes an 800-pound gorilla on year-end best-of lists like Vijay Iyer's knotty yet inviting 2009 album, "Historicity," it's tempting to wonder if there's any downside. Does that kind of reaction go to a guy's head? Does it inspire a musician to venture further out and defy expectations? Or does it prompt a temptation to stick with what's worked in the past? Full Article

UTNE Reader :: Vijay Iyer

"A much-lauded jazz pianist, Iyer plays nimbly in many ensembles and settings—but he really shines on Solo, his first unaccompanied recording... Bursting with both emotion and intelligence, this album is a dispatch from the vibrant forefront of jazz." - Utne Reader Full Article