Vijay Iyer
Born in Albany, New York, in 1971, raised in Fairport in a Tamil family originally from India and based in New York, Vijay Iyer has since the mid-1990s built a career at the intersection of contemporary jazz, improvisation and composed music. Largely self-taught as a pianist after classical training on violin, he emerged on the American creative scenes through collaborations with Steve Coleman and George E. Lewis and by leading his own projects with Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mike Ladd and the collective Fieldwork. His writing combines a dense pulse, work with rhythmic cycles, a pronounced use of repetition and an attention to long-form structures, paired with a piano approach that is both percussive and highly articulated. Vijay Iyer’s discography reflects this trajectory — from Memorophilia (1995) and Architextures (1998) to Historicity (2009), Accelerando (2012), Mutations (2014), Break Stuff (2015), Far From Over (2017), Uneasy (2021) and Compassion (2024). He has also developed duo and trio formats that have become central to his work, notably with Wadada Leo Smith on A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (2016), and later on Love in Exile (2023) with Arooj Aftab and Shahzad Ismaily. Alongside performances in clubs, jazz festivals and venues dedicated to contemporary creation, Vijay Iyer composes for ensembles, string quartets and orchestras.
upcoming events 1
NN North Sea Jazz Festival - Vrijdag Dagkaart
- Fri, July 10
- Rotterdam Ahoy
- Sienna Spiro, Jalen Ngonda, Diana Krall, Bilal, The Isley Brothers, The Roots, Asaf Avidan, Jon Batiste, Robert Glasper, LA LOM, KOKOROKO, Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest, Esperanza Spalding, Cécile Mclorin Salvant, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Kenny Barron, Eric Harland, Vijay Iyer, Gallowstreet, Wadada Leo Smith, Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge, Yuri Honing, Steve Coleman
past events 1
| Mar 13, 2015 |
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