Vijay Iyer Trio

“The Vijay Iyer Trio has the potential to alter the scope, ambition and language of jazz piano forever.”—Jazzwise

Adventuresome jazz piano artist Vijay Iyer’s musical interests are many and varied. His last visit to the Wex was with his band Tirtha, who spun traditional Indian musical forms into dynamic, organic explorations. Recently he has contributed to several projects by composing for strings, electronics, and multimedia elements, demonstrating his encyclopedic range. All along, however, Iyer’s musical home base and foundation has been his jazz trio—the acutely attuned players with whom he cleanly articulates his intricate yet accessible compositional ideas and dynamic playing. Now with ECM Records, Iyer will tour in support of his latest trio release featuring his colleagues Marcus Gilmore on drums and Stephan Crump on bass as they further stretch the parameters of the classic jazz piano trio. Together they create powerful new music that is firmly grounded in groove and pulse but is also rhythmically advanced, fluidly improvisational, emotionally compelling, and innovative in form. A review on NPR.org perhaps said it best, calling the group “truly astonishing…they make challenging music sound immediately enjoyable.”