Vijay Iyer Trio At Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pianist and composer Vijay Iyer frames his new trio recording, Break Stuff, around the idea of musical breaks: "a break in music is still music: a span of time in which to act," he writes. Formally, he's referring to breakbeats and other musical breakdowns, but more generally, Iyer's trio exploits opportunities to rupture convention. The configuration featuring Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums, together now for over 11 years, has made an art of collective rhythmic risk-taking, whether on Iyer's compositions or while nodding to disruptive musical heroes like Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Detroit techno DJ Robert Hood. Jazz Night In America visits the Temple of Dendur, the Egyptian temple which resides within a massive room in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to take in a set from the Vijay Iyer.
SETLIST
01:54 ‘Geese’
08:16 ‘Break Stuff’
13:24 ‘Mystery Woman’
20:28 ‘Libra’
26:18 ‘Break Stuff (Reprise)’
30:55 ‘Starlings’
35:46 ‘Chorale’
41:13 ‘Work’
50:22 ‘Our Lives’
58:58 ‘Hood’
1:11:00 ‘Taking Flight’
1:24:19 ‘Countdown’
1:31:22 ‘Becoming’
MUSICIANS
Vijay Iyer, Stephan Crump, Marcus Gilmore
CREDITS
Producers: Patrick Jarenwattananon, Nick Michael, Suraya Mohamed / Editor: Morgan McCloy / Concert Video: Sarah Cowan, Will Sexton, Thomas Shomaker / Additional Video: Carlos Waters / Supervising Sound Editor: Suraya Mohamed / Live Audio Engineers: Peter MacDuffie, Brendan Bekowies, Keith Rubenstein / Audio Recording Engineer: Jeremy Stirone / Photos: Ralf Heid / Music: NPR’s Fresh Air / Special Thanks: Diana Patch, Lila Acheson Wallace, Kwabena Slaughter / Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann
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[@gelyukboodoo]

Every year I get deeper into Vijay's music and it just gets more and more meaning inside of me - this how great it is

[@tiluriso]

People bitching that Iyer is not a piano virtuoso w/ monster chops...the dude is self taught, and has an original sound IMO..and it could be argued that in Jazz, being original ultimately beats chops. Remember..neither Monk nor Horace Silver had 'monster Jazz piano chops' either, quite on the contrary...yet both were highly original players/composers.

[@denniswong7355]

As far as Silver goes, he's better known as a great jazz composer of tunes like "Sister Sadie", "Song For My Father", etc. And though he didn't have a lot of technique, Bill Evans admitted he was influenced by his comping behind soloists. But Monk definitely had technique, and the story goes that one day one of his sideman told him he was in awe of Art Tatum and Monk said "I could play like this executing a Tatumistic run on the piano but I prefer to play like this (his typical angular choppy style). It's the player's conception that pulls people in since a case in point would be Miles Davis. I don't think he is a great trumpeter with chops like Dizzy, Freddie Hubbard or for that matter Wynton Marsalis but his conception of the trumpet and jazz music is unsurpassed since he was at the forefront of the music for over 4 decades---surpassing Bird, Trane or Armstrong for that matter!

[@vKarl71]

I totally agree. Monk did actually have serious bebop chops but chose to play the way he played.

[@cedardreamsLLC]

Plus, his chops are shown through his ability to improvise so fluidly through these incredibly complex song forms!

[@afxmnstr]

Wow this is considered bad chops ? I'm in danger :'(

[@tiluriso]

@@afxmnstr Dude, please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Iyer has 'bad chops' at all, just that there are pianists who arguably have more chops than him. I mean 'chops' in the Classicicst sense of facility/technique and a vocabulary of a million patterns and stuff. If you go through this thread you'll read at least one naysayers (who sounds like an Eurocentric, Classical snob) commenting his touch or something. Vijay sounds great if you ask me, but I guess some piano snob/buffs expect everyone to sound like Keith Jarrett or whatever. Perhaps as far as 'Classict' concerns' go, Vijay's playing might show he didn't learn 'formal Classical piano technique' but I say so what? At the end of the day 'chops', 'technique' and 'instrumental facility' are merely 'means to an end', not the 'end' it self. Meaning technique is not 'Music' itself, just a tool. Chops are not necessarily 'Art'. 'Art' is 'connection between the Work and its Audience'. That is ultimately subjective and personal.

[@semillerimages]

Just amazing! Thank you!

[@MrAlcides1611]

Vijay Iyer is a fantastic player and composer. He is currently the best musician of modern jazz. A pure genius!

[@pameyers1]

Aren't you embarrassed to say nonsense like this?

[@MrAlcides1611]

pameyers1 It is my opinion and I think you could respect it!

[@pameyers1]

Comrade, you do not express it as an opinion; you state it as a fact. As a fact it is not just false but far from true. As an opinion it is uninformed and unconvincing. So on what grounds should I respect it? If I knew you I imagine that I would respect you, but that is a different matter.

[@MrAlcides1611]

pameyers1 For me, he is a great composer and musician. If you don't agree with this, it is your own problem. It doesn't matter to me and I don't care what do you think about Jazz.

[@Lesiga1]

+pameyers1 Well, its rather amazing music all the same. Hard to disagree with Alcides MFJr, but jazz is such a treasure of inventiveness that someone will eventually come along and be just as good!

[@semillerimages]

This is amazing! I just heard Vijay on NPR this morning and had to hear more!!

[@thewordofgord]

Hmmn, just read the New Yorker profile; can't believe I've just heard of him now! Quite original, and managing to steer around the Jarrett and Meldau trios is an accomplishment in itself.

[@alexandermorpurgo5980]

i was there! so cool to be in that room for this magical show!

[@CarlosEduardoMorreo]

Taking Flight! Now that is a fantastic piece in a great album. A sort of two-in-one, first a foundation to something that becomes all rhythmic and then flies off!

[@Simonewhitesim-1music]

Old friend and Band mate Vijay, is a soul sonic force.. Well the whole group is..

[@shoocatspider]

So awesome love it

[@tiluriso]

The album 'Break Stuff' is really good.

[@adamdiss]

Fuckin A.

[@gianlucaminguzzi520]

"Starlings" really beautiful tune

[@docnelson2008]

An extraordinary talent. I think I hear shades of Ellington, Monk, Bud Powell, Randy Weston, certainly Mccoy Tyner in his playing but maybe not. A PhD level physicist playing creative music (jazz?) at this level is mind blowing. I came across his music only a few years ago but he gets more and more interesting. A great upload-thank you.

[@samferguson9171]

I love Stephan Crump's solo during "Mystery Woman." Like Charlie Haden on steroids. It's very soulful - and somehow fluid and rigid at the same time, with formal rigor meeting otherworldly lyricism.

[@blauhorse1]

excellent

[@reypercussao]

Top!!!!

[@andreacooks59]

Reminds me of a little Bad Plus, totally diggin it👍💙

[@theclash435]

I wish they would’ve done this same thing with their acelerando album

[@cristobalmanautsabatini1576]

ty youtube recomendations

[@samferguson9171]

How weird is the confluence of Christian McBride talking about Vijay Iyer? Mad respect for both men, but they make such wildly different "jazz."

[@adamdiss]

Sense of Melody^3

[@abebaillie5618]

Matched grip!

It took 9 hours of sound test, so We could really only listen to his piano..

[@Gaming4LifeFR]

Lol I love this kind drummers that can't tolerate anything but loud drums overtaking the whole mix, just because... dRuMs

[@nevernotagravedigger]

Bourgeois grooves AF

[@dogmart]

Got to love the zombified audiences at jazz shows incarcerated by formality.

[@vpsaxman]

/r/iamverysmart

[@weitzen]

Love that turn of phrase! Describes the situation perfectly! Great music though!!!

[@harrisonbrand8985]

JJ Jnks i don’t know.. personally on a song like break stuff i don’t understand how anyone can sit still. music doesn’t enter the ears and sit alone in the brain, it should be felt in the whole body

[@Writeher]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@IlVeroRe]

ikr, they shoulda started a fkin moshpit

[@edmundmevissen2181]

meine Musik!

[@davidvelleman6655]

I dig

[@drumanddrummer2959]

Was at the latest Zildjian Live event and Marcus played. I literally cried lol his genetics run so deep, it’s like distilled musical bliss on the drums

[@harrisonbrand8985]

I LOVE Margus Gilmore's playing. I wish the micing/balancing was a bit better on this vid

[@benesposito5493]

@@harrisonbrand8985 I thought it was fine.

[@cfibanez]

Indeed. Unfortunately, the drums are hardly audible here, and specially the cymbals. So much for those nice Zidjans... :-(

[@null8295]

1:19:07 Satie

[@jabaralhut956]

59:00-1:10:00 Vijay Iyer channeling my 1 year old niece

[@caponsacchi]

The introduction attributed to the artist is a useful corrective: the common expression "Miles (or Ahmad) uses space creatively" is, from the outset, a confusion between time and space. Music remains a temporal experience, even when played by the most economical of players. The beat goes on. And in the silences, or gaps, the listener-respondent fills in what is missing with the creations of his own imagination. Wolfgang Iser bases all of his aesthetic theory on this exchange between the artwork and its attentive listener-spectator-reader.

[@TSJM123]

Stephan Crump looks like Clarkson..

[@octopoblue8027]

too true

[@SilfoNeves]

Does anyone knows which ride is he using?

[@emmanuelgauthier2470]

must be one of those old Ks !! Awesome instrument !

[@bobduckens2265]

47:00

[@hongdrummy]

Anyone knows the size of the bass drum marcus using?

[@chrispysthename]

Jihyung Hong Looks to me like a 16”, but Marcus sits so high it can be hard to tell.

[@jayumble8390]

Beautiful but a shame that the bass is so low in the mix. Actually the drums too.

[@needle50kk]

Track id please on 54:00

[@musicofammers]

our lives:)

[@crystalc1ear]

Bass player eating one very long invisible noodle

[@vKarl71]

Love this. Seems to be some problems mic-ing and/or mixing the drums. Almost can't hear the ride cymbal at all.

[@Alefernetico]

Name of the ride cymbal? That fucking sound.

[@aaaggg7204]

Does anyone know something about that kind of ride used by Marcus? p.s. thanks for the video!

[@youreallinsane]

+Andrea Greco Universal Percussion UP197 Round Double-Braced Drum Throne

[@aaaggg7204]

+youreallinsane "ride cymbal"

[@theethanatorem]

+Andrea Greco That is an old K Istanbul. 20 inch, maybe.

[@Lesiga1]

+theethanatorem Why is it always the old cymbals that sound best - it means we cant go and buy them anymore :(

[@LasseSchjerning]

22" k. zildjian istanbul old stamp - not 20".

[@edortapacubos1779]

Ooooooohlala

[@Writeher]

🎩👑🙌🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿took weeks for me to eject this album from my stereo deck!!

[@enkibumbu]

I can't get over the drummer using just one cymbal. It is bothering me to no end.

[@cedardreamsLLC]

enkibumbu he’s using 3 and sometimes 4!

[@drumanddrummer2959]

Depth! It urges you to have a more personal relationship with the instruments and to explore them more. Rather than having every sound readily at your disposal- you craft them :)

[@christiecharba5938]

he looks like Pete Buttigieg!

[@cfibanez]

Vijay Iyer is a monster pianist and a hugely creative artist. Unfortunately, the sound was pretty on this one. The drums are hardly audible.

[@EduardLaurel]

Stultifying. Indulgent to splintered. Deconstructed to desiccation. What is he doing in the Temple of Dendur? Is this 21st century genius? I would like to try to catch Iyer's ride. Can anyone explain his tickets?

[@panopticonartist]

Some great tunes here, but Hood was clearly more fun to play than to listen to... 1:04:31 dude in the lower right hand corner knows what I'm talking about...

[@bulletfastspeed]

That was actually one of my favorites. I'm also a fan of many sorts of music including some electronic music, and I felt that song really captured the beauty of sound in a way acoustic instrumental music typically does not.

[@JazzmanNqn]

buenos músicos, talentosos pero muy aburrido.

[@MrCalpont]

Strepitosi !

[@azman.s]

Probably a good pianist but not onto the music lyrics.

[@scriabinbartok3465]

Vijay is an alright contemporary jazz musician, but the huge media attention He is getting is not well deserved. He is not a musical genius neither a great jazz piano virtuoso. I'm aware of at least another ten New York jazz pianists on his level, that are not getting the same royal attention as he is.

[@suvade1271]

+Scriabin Bartok I would love to hear these NY pianists, who are they? Also, if Vijay is merely 'alright' please tell us who (in your opinion) in contemporary jazz is much better than 'alright'.

[@scriabinbartok3465]

Check out: Aaron Parks Robert Glasper Ethan Iverson Frank LoCrasto Dave Kikowski Gerald Clayton Kenny Werner Tigran Hamasyan Dan Tepfer Fabian Almazan Lawrence Fields Uri Caine David Virelles Leo Genovese Taylor Eigsti Edward Simon Jason Linder Kevin Hays Luis Perdomo Craig Taborn Gary Versace Jen-Michel Pilc Jason Lindner

[@scriabinbartok3465]

All of the above musicians are better pianists and jazz musicians than Vijay. Vijay is Donald Trump of jazz piano. People are paying attention to his music because the press and the critics love him. They made him "the next big thing". And comparing Vijay to contemporary masters like Keith Jarret, Brad Mehldau , Chick Coera and Herbie Hancock is laughable.

[@suvade1271]

+Scriabin Bartok I know most of the names you listed and am quite familiar with the music of about half of them. You like these pianists better? Fine, why don't you spend your time championing/spreading the word about them if you think they deserve more recognition and not hating on Vijay? By stating that these pianists are more accomplished as fact you manage to sound like a teen who says their favourite band is the best, simply because they happen to be their favourite band. As for the Donald Drumpf analogy - seriously, WTF? FYI, I fell in love with Iyer's music before I knew he'd topped this poll or had received that award. I (along with other critical/independent thinking music fans) don't get into someone's music because a critic thinks they are great, so you make another vacuous statement by saying people are paying attention just because the critics/press love him. Speaking of which, maybe they love him because they hear someone unique, a risk taker, someone who's music (to them at least) is visceral, exciting, adventurous, forward-looking, has a sense of narrative and is intellectually stimulating at the same time. Maybe this is why people like Gilmore, Crump, Tyshawn Sorey, Ambrose Akinmusire, Liberty Ellman, Steve Coleman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mark Turner, Jason Moran, Craig Taborn play/have played with him. You know, just a bunch of average/'alright' jazz musicians. As for comparing him to greats such as Hancock, I don't know who is, just yet at least. Mehldau? I dig him, but let me leave you with the late, great Paul Bley's thoughts on Vijay and Brad: tedpanken.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/an-uncut-blindfold-test-with-paul-bley-around-2002/

[@gregorygoings8726]

+Scriabin Bartok Matthew Shipp, don't forget.