Vijay Iyer (b. 1971) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer based in New York. He became Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University in early 2014. Iyer performs around the world with ensembles, most frequently in his trio with Stephan Crump and Marcus Gilmore, featured on three albums: "Break Stuff" (2015, ECM), Accelerando (2012, ACT) and Historicity (2009, ACT). "Break Stuff" received five stars (highest rating) in the March…
Vijay Iyer (b. 1971) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer based in New York. He became Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University in early 2014. Iyer performs around the world with ensembles, most frequently in his trio with Stephan Crump and Marcus Gilmore, featured on three albums: "Break Stuff" (2015, ECM), Accelerando (2012, ACT) and Historicity (2009, ACT). "Break Stuff" received five stars (highest rating) in the March 2015 issue of "Down Beat" magazine. "Accelerando" was voted No. 1 Jazz Album of the Year for 2012 in three critics’ polls surveying hundreds of critics worldwide, hosted by Down Beat, Jazz Times and Rhapsody, and also was chosen as jazz album of the year by NPR, the Los Angeles Times, PopMatters, and Amazon.com. Historicity was a 2010 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, and was named No. 1 Jazz Album of 2009 in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Metro Times, National Public Radio, PopMatters.com, the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll, and the Down Beat International Critics Poll. The trio won the 2010 Jazz Echo Award for best international ensemble and the 2012 Down Beat Critics Poll for jazz group of the year. On the strength of these recordings, Iyer was named the 2010 Musician of the Year and 2012 Pianist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. May 2015