Album Features Covers of Michael Jackson,
Flying Lotus, Heatwave, Henry Threadgill, 
Duke Ellington & Herbie Nichols

Album to be Featured as NPR First Listen (March 6 to 13), NPR Song of The Day, NPR’s All Things Considered, January Cover of JazzTimes Magazine & Much More

Iyer Tours US in March & April with Trio, As Solo Pianist & With Collaborative South Asian Trio, Tirtha

“…a stunning album…” – Paste

“In musical terms, accelerando signifies a quickening of tempo, a gradual acceleration of pace…it’s a dead-on descriptor of the velocity at which Iyer’s career has traveled of late” – JazzTimes

“Vijay Iyer does the nearly impossible with his captivating makeover of Threadgill’s “Little Pocket Size Demons,” from Iyer’s forthcoming album Accelerando.”
– NPR Song of the Day

“The material on Accelerando steers an epic course from Ellington, through 1970s funk and disco, to the avant garde, and on to contemporary psychedelic-electronica navigated by Iyer’s distinctive post-MBASE filter that also draws in five of the pianist’s original compositions.” – Jazzwise

“Iyer has emerged as one of the most respected, influential and popular artists in jazz, amid a creative surge that includes perhaps his best record yet, ‘Accelerando’”
– Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Vijay Iyer has been one of jazz’s most exciting pianists over the past several years. He flourishes in all sorts of settings, from solo to quartets, and he gets more interesting with each new record. His forthcoming trio record, “Accelerando,’’ ups the ante.”
- The Boston Globe

“Unquestionably one of the most imaginative composers and improvisers in contemporary jazz” – East Bay Express

Watch the Accelerando video EPK on YouTube

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer’s career has moved on an ever-accelerating arc over the past decade and a half, with the Indian-American artist earning a slew of international honors for his intrepid, multi-hued vision of 21st-century music. The latest chapter of this compelling story in contemporary jazz comes with the Vijay Iyer Trio’s Accelerando, an album driven by the visceral, universal, intoxicating experience of rhythm. To be released in March 2012 by the German independent label ACT Music + Vision, Accelerando sees Iyer and his telepathic trio mates – bassist Stephan Crump and drummerMarcus Gilmore – go both deep and wide. They light up material that ranges from a brace of bold Iyer originals and pieces by great jazz composers (Duke Ellington, Herbie Nichols, Henry Threadgill) to surprising interpretations of vintage and recent pop and funk tunes (Michael Jackson, Heatwave, Flying Lotus). Absorbing and infectious, this is jazz about not only the mind but the body.

With an advanced education in the hard sciences and his facility for complex music, Iyer could have been pegged as a “cerebral musician.” But, he insists, “I actually experience music on a visceral level, the way most people do. Dance is just a bodily way of listening to music – it’s a universal response. Jazz has always had some sort of dance impulse at its core. Bebop grew out of swing, which was a dance rhythm that became art music. I never want to lose that foundation of rhythmic communication in my work. That’s what Accelerando is concerned with, that physical reality of music. For me, music is action.”

Iyer has played with Memphis-bred bassist Stephan Crump since 1997 (when the pianist had first moved to New York City) and with Marcus Gilmore since 2003 (when the drummer, grandson of legendary jazz stickman Roy Haynes, was still attending New York’s LaGuardia High School). The overwhelming response to the trio’s 2009 album, Historicity, gave these musicians the opportunity to hone their group interaction in front of audiences around the world for two years. Iyer says: “We found more possibilities for spontaneous arrangement, textural and timbral extremes, and ensemble interplay. Our approach is less and less soloistic lately; it’s more about developing a collective energy and momentum. When you hear us now, you can tell that it’s us.”

As very contemporary musicians, Iyer and his trio mates have a wide purview when it comes to a group approach to rhythm. “The way we come to rhythm is inspired by Bud Powell and Max Roach, Ahmad Jamal, Ellington and Monk, but it is not limited to that,” he says. “There is the way James Brown approached it, and the way Jimi Hendrix, the Meters or Earth, Wind & Fire did it; there is the influence of Indian music, African music, Javanese gamelan. There is a whole world history of groove and pulse to draw on, and we do. When it comes to co-articulating a groove and thinking about the subtle dimensions of the beat, we aim to push and pull, to incorporate as many different ideas of orchestration, touch and dynamics as we can so that the rhythm breathes just like a body does.”

The range of material on Accelerando – from Ellington to Henry Threadgill to Michael Jackson to Iyer’s compositions – is dizzying, wonderfully so. Among Iyer’s original compositions, “Optimism” starts with a buoyant feel, but its crescendo “means that it builds way beyond anything hinted at by the opening material,” Iyer explains. “It erupts from the light to the visceral, and we have to push ourselves physically to achieve that.” The album’s title track was initially the final movement of a suite Iyer wrote for choreographer Karole Armitage that was performed in Central Park. “I’m interested in tempo as a structural element,” he says, “and this was an experiment to see if a constantly accelerating pulse could be the basis for dance. Luckily it worked.  It was an amazing experience to write something for dancers and see it realized.”

One of the highlights of Accelerando is Iyer’s ingenious version of Threadgill’s “Little Pocket-Sized Demons.” The kaleidoscopic original version included two tubas, two guitars and a French horn. “It took a leap of imagination,” Iyer says. “The original has this carnival vibe – polyphonic and surreal. It was hard to express all that counterpoint with just six hands.  We used arco bass to thicken up the sound and spread the beat to evoke the tubas. Thread came to a rehearsal and gave us pointers, which was so inspiring. Like Monk, Henry has this composer’s approach, but he is also someone, like Monk, who played in the church. You can hear that communicative power when he plays.  His relationship to the beat is profound.”

The soulful Ellington piece “The Village of the Virgins” comes from his 1970 ballet The River. Reducing his orchestral sound to the trio format “involved sleight of hand,” Iyer explains. “It both is and isn’t the original.” Herbie Nichols’ “Wildflower” is “a tune I really love,” Iyer says. “He was influenced by Duke and the stride pianists and by Stravinsky and Prokofiev. There is a lightness and elegance in spite of this harmonic darkness. It’s dissonant, but it makes you smile. It’s inspiring when someone reconciles the seemingly irreconcilable.” The album’s version of the Michael Jackson ballad “Human Nature” is a trio extension of Iyer’s solo piano arrangement heard on his 2009 album, Solo. “Interpreting a song like `Human Nature’ is about telling your own story, like Miles did not long after the original,” Iyer says. “That one or the Heatwave song or the Flying Lotus track were not obvious choices for a piano trio. But it’s good for us to reach beyond ourselves to different musical approaches and even beyond our instruments. It leads to discovery – and that’s the sound I really like.”

The Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Greenfield Foundation are proud to announce that Composer-Pianist Vijay Iyer is the winner of the $30,000 Greenfield Prize, awarded this year in the field of music. Iyer will receive the award at a special celebration dinner on April 1, 2012 in Sarasota, FL. Serving on the jury that selected Iyer were Linda Golding, past president of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. music publishers and founder of The Reservoir; Jennifer Koh, solo violinist and prolific recitalist, and Limor Tomer, general manager of concerts and lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

“The Hermitage is very excited to announce Vijay Iyer as the 2012 Greenfield Prize winner in music,” remarked Bruce E. Rodgers, executive director of the Hermitage. “We look forward to April 1st, when we present Vijay with the Prize, and begin the two-year process of working with him to provide whatever support he needs to realize his commission and goals.”

“I’m honored, delighted, and surprised by this award,” said Iyer. “It’s rare and astonishing for my work to be embraced on such a scale, and it’s a particularly special honor coming from the Greenfield Prize’s interdisciplinary perspective.  This award will make a tremendous difference in my life in the coming year.  It enables me to focus less on ‘career’ and more on art and community, two powerful and interrelated forces that can nourish and sustain us all.  For this opportunity I am tremendously grateful.”

“Vijay Iyer is a perfect recipient for the Greenfield Prize,” continued Rodgers. “The goal in creating the award was a means by which a groundbreaking, enduring work of art could be created. He has told us he is interested in bringing improvisation into a format where classically-trained musicians are empowered to make choices and real-time decisions but in a very structured way. The Greenfield Prize will buy him time to sit down and think about music. That is exactly what we want this gift to allow and we look forward to April, 2014, when the work will be premiered at La Musica Music Festival.”

The Greenfield Prize was established in 2009 by longtime Sarasota residents Bob and Louise Greenfield, through the Philadelphia-based Greenfield Foundation. The Prize consists of a $30,000 commission of an original work of art, a residency at the Hermitage, and a partnership with a professional arts organization to develop the work plus assistance in moving the work forward into the American arts world. A distinguished six-person panel consisting of some of the most highly respected authorities in American art select each Greenfield Prize recipient. Three voting members on each jury are joined by a producing partner representative, Joni Greenfield of the Greenfield Foundation and Hermitage Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers who facilitates. Since its inception, past prizewinners include playwrights Craig Lucas and John Guare, composer Eve Beglarian and visual artist Sanford Biggers.

About the Greenfield Foundation: The Greenfield Foundation is based in Philadelphia, PA, but funds charitable initiatives across the country.  Its president and most of its trustees are members of the family of Louise and Bob Greenfield of Sarasota, Florida. Its net income, which exceeds $500,000 a year, is devoted to improving quality of life through contributions to not-for-profit institutions in the arts, education, health care and other services. The foundation originates and participates in innovative projects, which have a ripple effect beyond the immediate impact of the expenditures.

For more information on the Greenfield Prize, visit the website at www.GreenfieldPrize.org. For more information on the Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit the website at www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org or contact Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers at 941-475-2098.

Iyer is Also The Cover Story
of the February 2012 Issue of JazzTimes

Accelerando is the follow-up to the Vijay Iyer Trio’s Grammy-nominated Historicity – voted the No. 1 Jazz album of 2009 around the world, including in the DownbeatInternational Critics Poll, The Village Voice Jazz Critic’s Poll, The Los Angeles Times and by The New York Times

“Truly astonishing, the Vijay Iyer Trio makes challenging music sound immediately enjoyable.” – National Public Radio

“[a] pillar of contemporary jazz…dynamic and revelatory” – Village Voice

“…a stunning album…” – Paste

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer’s career has moved on an ever-accelerating arc over the past decade and a half, with the Indian-American artist earning a slew of international honors for his intrepid, multi-hued vision of 21st-century music. The latest chapter of this compelling story in contemporary jazz comes with the Vijay Iyer Trio’s Accelerando, an album driven by the visceral, universal, intoxicating experience of rhythm. To be released in March 2012 by the German independent label ACT Music + Vision, Accelerando sees Iyer and his telepathic trio mates – bassist Stephan Crump and drummerMarcus Gilmore – go both deep and wide. They light up material that ranges from a brace of bold Iyeroriginals and pieces by great jazz composers (Duke Ellington, Herbie Nichols, Henry Threadgill) to surprising interpretations of vintage and recent pop and funk tunes (Michael Jackson, Heatwave, Flying Lotus). Absorbing and infectious, this is jazz about not only the mind but the body.

With an advanced education in the hard sciences and his facility for complex music, Iyer could have been pegged as a “cerebral musician.” But, he insists, “I actually experience music on a visceral level, the way most people do. Dance is just a bodily way of listening to music – it’s a universal response. Jazz has always had some sort of dance impulse at its core. Bebop grew out of swing, which was a dance rhythm that became art music. I never want to lose that foundation of rhythmic communication in my work. That’s what Accelerando is concerned with, that physical reality of music. For me, music is action.”

Iyer has played with Memphis-bred bassist Stephan Crump since 1997 (when the pianist had first moved to New York City) and with Marcus Gilmore since 2003 (when the drummer, grandson of legendary jazz stickman Roy Haynes, was still attending New York’s LaGuardia High School). The overwhelming response to the trio’s 2009 album, Historicity, gave these musicians the opportunity to hone their group interaction in front of audiences around the world for two years. Iyer says: “We found more possibilities for spontaneous arrangement, textural and timbral extremes, and ensemble interplay. Our approach is less and less soloistic lately; it’s more about developing a collective energy and momentum. When you hear us now, you can tell that it’s us.”

As very contemporary musicians, Iyer and his trio mates have a wide purview when it comes to a group approach to rhythm. “The way we come to rhythm is inspired by Bud Powell and Max Roach, Ahmad Jamal, Ellington and Monk, but it is not limited to that,” he says. “There is the way James Brown approached it, and the way Jimi Hendrix, the Meters or Earth, Wind & Fire did it; there is the influence of Indian music, African music, Javanese gamelan. There is a whole world history of groove and pulse to draw on, and we do. When it comes to co-articulating a groove and thinking about the subtle dimensions of the beat, we aim to push and pull, to incorporate as many different ideas of orchestration, touch and dynamics as we can so that the rhythm breathes just like a body does.”

The range of material on Accelerando – from Ellington to Henry Threadgill to Michael Jackson to Iyer’s compositions – is dizzying, wonderfully so. Among Iyer’s original compositions, “Optimism” starts with a buoyant feel, but its crescendo “means that it builds way beyond anything hinted at by the opening material,” Iyer explains. “It erupts from the light to the visceral, and we have to push ourselves physically to achieve that.” The album’s title track was initially the final movement of a suite Iyer wrote for choreographer Karole Armitage that was performed in Central Park. “I’m interested in tempo as a structural element,” he says, “and this was an experiment to see if a constantly accelerating pulse could be the basis for dance. Luckily it worked.  It was an amazing experience to write something for dancers and see it realized.”

One of the highlights of Accelerando is Iyer’s ingenious version of Threadgill’s “Little Pocket-Sized Demons.” The kaleidoscopic original version included two tubas, two guitars and a French horn. “It took a leap of imagination,” Iyer says. “The original has this carnival vibe – polyphonic and surreal. It was hard to express all that counterpoint with just six hands.  We used arco bass to thicken up the sound and spread the beat to evoke the tubas. Thread came to a rehearsal and gave us pointers, which was so inspiring. Like Monk, Henry has this composer’s approach, but he is also someone, like Monk, who played in the church. You can hear that communicative power when he plays.  His relationship to the beat is profound.”

The soulful Ellington piece “The Village of the Virgins” comes from his 1970 ballet The River. Reducing his orchestral sound to the trio format “involved sleight of hand,” Iyer explains. “It both is and isn’t the original.” Herbie Nichols’ “Wildflower” is “a tune I really love,” Iyer says. “He was influenced by Duke and the stride pianists and by Stravinsky and Prokofiev. There is a lightness and elegance in spite of this harmonic darkness. It’s dissonant, but it makes you smile. It’s inspiring when someone reconciles the seemingly irreconcilable.” The album’s version of the Michael Jackson ballad “Human Nature” is a trio extension of Iyer’s solo piano arrangement heard on his 2009 album, Solo. “Interpreting a song like `Human Nature’ is about telling your own story, like Miles did not long after the original,” Iyer says. “That one or the Heatwave song or the Flying Lotus track were not obvious choices for a piano trio. But it’s good for us to reach beyond ourselves to different musical approaches and even beyond our instruments. It leads to discovery – and that’s the sound I really like.”

4 EVENINGS OF NEW MUSIC WITH 4 DIFFERENT BANDS; FEATURING GREENLEAF PORTABLE SERIES ARTISTS

From December 8-11 at Jazz Standard in New York City, prolific jazz trumpeter and label owner Dave Douglas will present four evenings of new music with four different bands, including artists from hisGreenleaf Portable Series (GPS). OnDecember 8, Douglas will feature a new group, Key Motion Quintet, with Donny McCaslin, Adam Benjamin, Tim Lefebvre, and Mark Guiliana, performing music from Douglas’ Keystone and McCaslin’s Perpetual Motion. On the following nights, Douglas will viagra three groups featured on the first three volumes of his GPS 2011 digital EPs, offered in the new limited edition box set, Three Views: So Percussion (December 9),Orange Afternoons with Ravi Coltrane,Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh and EJ Strickland(December 10), and Brass Ecstasy withLuis Bonilla, Vincent Chancey, Marcus Rojas and Rudy Royston (December 11).

Ever since Douglas launched his Greenleaf Music imprint in 2004, the label has been ahead of the curve in embracing new media and technology. Greenleaf was one of the first jazz labels to have a blog and a web store that catered to listeners wanting various high-quality digital formats. In doing so, Douglas recognized the importance and value of not only delivering music, but also offering artistic insight into the process of being a creative musician and consumer preference for differing audio fidelities.

Douglas acknowledges the importance of technology to him as an artist, “It feels like the relationship of the artist to the listener is changing, especially in the recorded domain. Listeners have more choice in how they interact with music, and an artist can provide more choices and more immediacy. I feel like new formats are an extraordinary opportunity for music and sound artists. In the case of Three Views, the GPS system gave me the spark to ignite these three sets of new music.”

ORIGINALLY DIGITAL-ONLY EPs COMPOSED BY DOUGLAS AND PERFORMED IN INFORMAL ‘SESSIONS’ WITH BRASS ECSTASY, RAVI COLTRANE, VIJAY IYER, LINDA OH, MARCUS GILMORE, AND NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE SO PERCUSSION

SERIES LAUNCHED VIA NEW GREENLEAF WEBSITE, MOBILE SITE,
CLOUD & UPCOMING iPHONE/iPAD APPS

Ever since pioneering jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas launched his Greenleaf Music imprint in 2004, the label has been ahead of the curve in embracing new media and technology. Greenleaf was one of the first jazz labels to have a blog and a web store that catered to listeners wanting various high-quality digital formats. In doing so, Douglas recognized the importance and value of not only delivering music, but also offering artistic insight into the process of being a creative musician and consumer preference for differing audio fidelities.

Douglas acknowledges the importance of technology to him as an artist, “It feels like the relationship of the artist to the listener is changing, especially in the recorded domain. Listeners have more choice in how they interact with music, and an artist can provide more choices and more immediacy. I feel like new formats are an extraordinary opportunity for music and sound artists. In the case of Three Views, the GPS system gave me the spark to ignite these three sets of new music.”

Greenleaf’s activities over the last seven years represent a major paradigm shift – especially for the jazz world – in the way music is consumed, delivered and complemented with “extras.”

The latest development in delivering new music in a new way is the Greenleaf Portable Series. Launched in June 2011, the series digitally delivers volumes of new music, composed and arranged by Douglas and performed with a cross-section of the finest musicians in contemporary jazz and beyond  — including Douglas’s Brass Ecstasy, a quintet featuring Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxophone and pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Marcus Gilmore, as well as the new music ensemble So Percussion.

Three Views finds the prolific trumpeter and composer at his highest artistic peak.  The records seem immediate with all the top-tier players playing with an intensity not often heard on present day jazz recordings.

For Volume 1, Rare Metals, Douglas convened his newest band, Brass Ecstasy—fresh off the acclaimed release United Front: Brass Ecstasy at Newport—for recording 5 new compositions and an arrangement of the classic Strayhorn tune “Lush Life.”

Following Volume 1, Douglas invited Ravi Coltrane, Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh, and Marcus Gilmore to play new music for this special quintet.  Upon release on iTunes, Orange Afternoons shot to #1 on the iTunes jazz chart generating a buzz rarely seen in the jazz world, especially for a digital-only release.

For the final GPS release of 2011, Bad Mango the quartet So Percussion joined Douglas in the studio for what is a truly unique album even for the ever-searching trumpeter.  Playing new compositions along side works from Douglas’ album Witnessand from his early 1990s band Tiny Bell Trio, Douglas is accompanied by marimba, musical saw, glockenspiel, and many non-traditional percussion instruments.

Douglas unveiled the GPS via a newly developed website optimized for mobile platforms, a cloud player that gives instant access to Greenleaf’s growing catalogue as well as an upcoming free app for the iPhone and iPad.

In addition to developing new distribution methods, Douglas is exploring creative avenues that might present themselves as a result of the new format. The Greenleaf Portable Series is the first result – shorter sessions, recorded in a day, presented more quickly to the market without the delays of putting out a CD.

“I liked the idea of streaming the music directly to listeners, and it seemed that CD length might not be the best representative in the new medium,” explains Douglas.

“Also the idea of shorter, more informal sessions appealed as it harkens back to the way jazz albums used to be recorded. The GPS gave me an outlet for a lot of new tunes and presented me with a way to record with some musicians I really admire but with whom I rarely get to play,” remarks the trumpeter.

Though Greenleaf recognizes the demand for digital and alternative content delivery methods, the label and its owner still also love the real deal, so Greenleaf is offering a very limited edition box set version of the first three volumes of GPS with beautiful artwork and packaging that our customers have come to appreciate from Greenleaf.

Three Views represents not only the three different vantage points presented here of Douglas as a composer, but also the three ways listeners can now listen to Greenleaf products – on a computer, on a mobile device or on their stereo.

photo by Lynne Harty

Vijay Iyer‘s working trio with Marcus Gilmore and Stephan Crump is playing at New York’s Jazz Standard Thursday through Sunday, September 22-25.  They’ve just recorded a follow-up album to 2009′s Grammy-nominated Historicity; the new trio disc is slated for a March 2012 release on ACT Music.   At the Standard, the first two nights (Thurs-Fri, Sept 22-23) showcase the trio’s new and newly arranged music;  the second two nights (Sat-Sun, Sept 24-25), Vijay expands to a sextet, similar to the one that played at Castle Clinton a few months ago for the River to River Festival, with tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, altoist Steve Lehman, and cornet & flugelhorn player Graham Haynes.

Vijay Iyer Trio - Thursday & Friday, Sept 22-23

Vijay Iyer Sextet – Saturday & Sunday, Sept 24-25

THE JAZZ STANDARD

116 East 27th street (Betweek Park & Lexington), New York City

Sets 7:30, 9:30pm each night

3rd set at 11:30 on Friday & Saturday

The Sanskrit word tīrtha (THEER-tha) literally means a ford, or a shallow place in a river that can be easily crossed over. Within a spiritual context, tirtha denotes a holy place near a body of water —somewhere where everyday struggles fall away, and where one passes easily into a deeper and more profound state of being. Aptly, Tirtha is now also the name of a phenomenal trio featuring three powerhouse musicians who at once honor and traverse the streams of tradition. It is also the name of their exciting new album on ACT Music.

Individually, Indian-American pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, Chennai (formerly Madras)-born guitarist-composer Prasanna, and Hyderabad native and tabla player Nitin Mitta are already highly accomplished artists who shift easily among multiple musical languages. Together, they have achieved a fully realized, deeply thoughtful, and truly innovative collaboration. Combining the elemental directness of rock, the chamber-like intimacy of raga, and bebop’s hard, angular drive, Tirtha achieves a profound interplay of melody and rhythm that characterizes the best jazz.

In his album notes, the award-winning Iyer describes the group’s genesis:

“Tirtha (the band) formed in response to an invitation. In 2007 I was asked to put together a concert celebrating 60 years of Indian independence. Normally I’ve steered clear of fusion experiments that attempt to mix styles – to “create something,” as John Coltrane famously admonished, “more with labels, you see, than true evolution.” For this event I hoped to avoid those pitfalls, and offer something personal.

“I invited along Prasanna and Nitin Mitta, two outstanding musicians from India who have settled in the States. None of us had collaborated previously, but at our first rehearsal we felt a jolt of recognition. There was no question of “fusion,” no compromise, no attempt to sound more or less “Indian”; just a fluid musical conversation among three individuals, an atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense of beginning.”

Prasanna continues the thought from his unique vantage:

“Tirtha is a logical extension of what I have been doing for many years in my own way – looking at global music today from the perspective of a Carnatic [south Indian classical] musician and looking at the rich tradition of Carnatic music from a contemporary Jazz/Rock/Classical musician’s perspective. In a trio that fosters as much space as Tirtha does, these concepts take on a musical life that is shared with a unique synergy. Music eventually finds its own simple solution.”

Left to right: Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, Nitin Mitta

These artists’ musical and cultural experiences are part of their creative DNA. Immediately, for example, you hear the distinctly South Indian, meticulous ornamentations of Prasanna’s guitar in dialogue with Iyer’s gloriously spacious harmonic palette, and Mitta’s superbly crisp Hindustani (north Indian classical) grooves and virtuosic, grounding presence. You hear familiar structural elements of jazz, Hindustani, and Carnatic music. However, the group completely shuns any musical clichés or previously heard “fusions” of those genres.

Instead you hear a band with ideas: the Reich-like rhythmic shifts of the driving opener “Duality”; the rhythmic vocalizing and drummed responses on “Tribal Wisdom”; “Abundance,” an Ellingtonian hymn with Carnatic nuances; the surprise post-punk anthem “Gauntlet”; the subtle majesty of the title track; the shimmering melodies of “Entropy and Time.” The pieces (alternately composed by Iyer and Prasanna) methodically open up to reveal the beating heart of the band’s improvisations: dynamic, astonishingly alive, with a deep sense of purpose.

Tabla player Nitin Mitta describes what the band means to him:

“The Great Vocalist Ustad Amir Khan once said music is something which the Soul speaks and the Soul hears. Tirtha to me is this spiritual journey. Music is universal and Tirtha is a true example of this; a combination of Jazz, Carnatic and Hindustani, elements of each merging together to evolve into music with no tags. I have never felt more challenged thus far in bringing out my creativity as I do with Tirtha.”

Tirtha at once acknowledges and celebrates its diverse heritages, and yet is not restricted or easily reduced to any stereotypes about who these musicians are—or who they “should” be. What the band offers instead is an impassioned and beautiful act of self-definition.

Iyer summarizes:

“For us Tirtha represents a unity that only recently became possible, after several decades of South Asian global mobility, transition, and flow: it’s the sound of a new reality.”

Vijay Iyer Website

Follow Vijay Iyer on Twitter

Vijay Iyer on Facebook

Chris Parrello –Things I Wonder (Stray Dog Music) – January 25
Chris Parrello – guitars, compositions; Karlie Bruce – vocals/lyrics; Ian Young – saxophones; Kevin Thomas – bass; Aviv Cohen – drums; Rubin Kodheli – cello; Greg Glassman – trumpet; Rich Hinman – pedal steel

February

Yaron Herman - Follow the White Rabbit (ACT Music) – February 8
Yaron Herman – piano; Chris Tordini – bass; Tommy Crane – drums

Youn Sun Nah– Same Girl (ACT Music) – February 8
Youn Sun Nah – vocals, kalimba, music box, kazoo; Ulf Wakenius – guitars; Lars Danielsson – acoustic bass, cello; Xavier Desandre-Navarre – percussion: Roland Brival – narration

Ben Kono – Crossing (Nineteen-Eight Records) – February 22
Ben Kono – saxophones, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, English horn; Henry Hey – piano; Pete McCann – guitar; John Hébert – bass; John Hollenbeck – drums; Heather Laws – vocals/French horn

Gutbucket – Flock (Cuneiform) – February 22
Ken Thomson – alto saxophone; Ty Citerman – electric guitar/effects; Eric Rockwin – bass; Adam D Gold – drums

March

Vijay Iyer – Tirtha (ACT Music) – March 8
Vijay Iyer – piano, Prasanna – guitar, Nitin Mitta – tabla

Helen Sung – (re)Conception (Steeplechase) – March 17
Helen Sung – piano, Peter Washington – bass, Lewis Nash – drums

Steven Lugerner – These Are The Words/Narratives 2-CD Set (self-released) – March 24
CD 1 – These Are The Words: Steven Lugerner – B-flat Clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, soprano & alto saxophones, oboe, English horn; Darren Johnston – trumpet & flugelhorn; Myra Melford – piano; Matt Wilson – drums

CD 2 – Narratives: Steven Lugerner – soprano & alto saxophones, bass clarinet, B-flat clarinet; Lucas Pino – Tenor Saxophone; Itamar Borochov – trumpet & flugelhorn; Angelo Spagnolo – guitar; Glenn Zaleski – piano; Ross Gallagher – double bass, Michael W. Davis – drums

Honey Ear Trio – Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven Records) – March 22
Erik Lawrence – saxophones; Rene Hart – acoustic bass, electronics/looping; Allison Miller -drums, percussion

Joe Fiedler Trio – Sacred Chrome Orb (Yellow Sound Label) – March 29
Joe Fiedler – trombone; John Hébert – bass; Michael Sarin – drums

April

Anthony Wilson– Campo Belo (Goat Hill Recordings) – April 5
Anthony Wilson – guitar; André Mehmari, piano; Guto Wirtti, bass; Edu Ribeiro, drums

Kermit Driscoll– Reveille (Nineteen-Eight Records) – April 5
Kermit Driscoll – bass; Bill Frisell – guitar; Kris Davis – piano; Vinnie Colaiuta – drums

Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio – Les Nuages en France (Mode Avant) – April 12
Marco Cappelli – guitar; Ken Filiano – bass; Satoshi Takeishi – drums

May

Art Hirahara – Noble Path (Posi-tone Records) – May 3
Art Hirahara – piano; Yoshi Waki – bass; Dan Aran – drums

Taylor Haskins – Recombination (Nineteen-Eight Records) – May 10
Taylor Haskins – trumpet, special effects, laptop, synths; Ben Monder – guitar; Henry Hey – keyboards & piano; Todd Sickafoose – bass; Nate Smith – drums; special guest Samuel Torres – percussion & kalimba

June

Erik Friedlander – Bonebridge (Skipstone Records) – June 7
Erik Friedlander – cello; Doug Wamble – slide guitar; Trevor Dunn – bass; Michael Sarin – drums

We realize we’re a little late to the punch, but if you haven’t already put the finishing touches on your 2010 year-end lists for jazz or other eclectic non-mainstream music, please consider the wonderful projects we’ve worked on in one way or another this past year. 

I would like to acknowledge all of you in the media and the industry for helping us make 2010 another successful year for Fully Altered Media. And of course we couldn’t do it without our amazing clients, listed below. 

I would also like to especially acknowledge former staffer Stephen Buono, all-around utility man Nick Venti and my new assistant Maribel Gil, who recently joined the Fully Altered team part-time, as well as day-to-day helpers Russ Flynn, Andy McGhie and Will Martina.

If you haven’t yet finished your year-end Top 10 or Top 20 or Top 50 lists, please consider the albums below. I hope that my eclecticism and open ears will continue to show through in the music we send your way.

To a Healthy & Productive 2011 and Beyond,
Matt Merewitz & Maribel Gil

Here are all the records we worked in 2010 for your consideration (in chronological order by release date):

Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly Cyrillic (482 Music)

Colorist A Square White Lie (482 Music)

Sam Sadigursky The Words Project III: Miniatures (New Amsterdam)

Steve Colson Trio The Untarnished Dream (Silver Sphinx)

Thomas Savy French Suite (Plus Loin)

Dan Weiss Trio Timshel (Sunnyside)

Allison Miller BOOM TIC BOOM (Foxhaven)

Nels Cline Singers Initiate (Cryptogramophone)

Adam Rudolph & Ralph Jones Yeyi (Meta)

Adam Rudolph & Yusef Lateef Towards the Unknown (Meta)

Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things Stories & Negotiations (482 Music)

Jacky Terrason Push (Concord)

The Claudia Quintet Royal Toast (Cuneiform)

Pete Robbins sILENT Z – Live (Hate Laugh Music)

Ideal Bread Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy (Cuneiform)

David Weiss & Point of Departure Snuck in (Sunnyside)

Rafi Malkiel Water (Tzadik)

Barry Harris Live in Rennes (Plus Loin)

Billy Bang Prayer for Peace (TUM)

Vijay Iyer Solo (ACT)

Blue Cranes Observatories (Self-released)

Eddie Gomez & Cesarius Alvim Forever (Plus Loin)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green Apex (Pi)

Kellylee Evans Nina (Plus Loin)

Nels Cline DIRTY BABY (Cryptogramophone)

Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly Featuring Roscoe Mitchell Empathetic Parts (482 Music)

Scott Amendola Trio Lift (Sazi)

Dan Tepfer Five Pedals Deep (Sunnyside)

The Dymaxion Quartet Sympathetic Vibrations (Self-released)

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore Three Kinds of Happiness (Not Two)

Jerome Sabbagh I Will Follow You (Bee Jazz)

Look for some excellent new projects for January and beyond from:

•    Trumpeter Taylor Haskins to release new album Recombination on Nineteen-Eight Records in February 2011
•    Debut album, Steampunk Serenade by Honey Ear Trio Featuring Erik Lawrence, Rene Hart & Allison Miller to be released in March 2011
•    & much much more

For more information, contact Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media/
matt@fullyaltered.com / 215-629-6155

]]> http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/11/22/fully-altered-media-2010-the-year-in-review-2/feed/ 0 http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/07/28/fully-altered-media-client-release-schedule-summer-fall-2010/ http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/07/28/fully-altered-media-client-release-schedule-summer-fall-2010/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:14:28 +0000 Matt http://fullyaltered.com/fa/?p=1084 August

Vijay Iyer – Solo (ACT Music) – August 31
Iyer’s 1st solo piano recording

September

Blue Cranes - Observatories (self-released) – Sept. 14
Portland, OR chamber jazz group w/ Reed Wallsmith (saxes), Sly Pig (saxes), Rebecca Sanborn (keyboards), Keith Brush (bass), Ji Tanzer (drums)

Eddie Gomez & Cesarius Alvim – Forever (Plus Loin Music) – Sept. 14
Bass/Piano Duo w/ Eddie Gomez (bass), Cesarius Alvim (piano)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green – Apex (Pi Recordings) – Sept. 28
w/ Mahanthappa (alto sax), Bunky Green (alto sax), Jack DeJohnette (drums on half), Jason Moran (piano), Francois Moutin (bass), Damion Reid (drums on half)

October

Kellylee Evans – Nina (Plus Loin Music) – October 12
w/ Evans (vocals( Francois Moutin (bass), Andre Ceccarelli (drums)

Ed Ruscha / Nels Cline / David Breskin – DIRTY BABY CD Box Set (Cryptogramophone Records) – October 12
an interdisciplinary art-music-poetry collaboration between visual artist Ed Ruscha, guitarist/composer Nels Cline + 16 musicians & poet/producer David Breskin

Scott Amendola Trio – Lift (Sazi Music) – Oct. 19
w/ Amendola (drums, electronics), Jeff Parker (guitar), John Shifflett (bass)

Dan Tepfer – Five Pedals Deep (Sunnyside Records) – October 26
Trio w/ Tepfer (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass), Ted Poor (drums)

November

The Dymaxion Quartet – Sympathetic Vibrations (self-released) – DIGITAL ONLY- October 9
w/ Gabriel Gloege (drums, leader), Mike Shobe (trumpet), Mark Small (tenor sax), Dan Fabricatore (bass)

 

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore – Three Kinds of Happiness (Not Two Records) – NEW RELEASE DATE: November 30

Trio w/ Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Jason Roebke (bass), Mike Pride (drums)

December

 

Jerome Sabbagh – I Will Follow You (Bee Jazz) – December 7

w/ Jerome Sabbagh – tenor & soprano saxophones, Ben Monder – guitar, Daniel Humair – drums