Selected Compositions 1999-2008 of Vijay Iyer
Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer has released sixteen albums as a leader, including Accelerando (2012), Tirtha (2011), Solo (2010), and the multiple-award-winning Historicity (2009). He received the 2010 Musician of the Year award in the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz wards, and his trio received the Echo Award (the German Grammy ) for best international ensemble and the Downbeat Critics Poll for rising star jazz group of the year. Other honors include the Alpert Award in the Arts, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and numerous composer commissions. Iyer has collaborated with Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Craig Taborn, Rez Abbasi, Ambrose Akinmusire, David Binney, Liberty Ellman, Karsh Kale, Steve Lehman, Butch Morris, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, Miya Masaoka, Dead Prez, Dafnis Prieto, Das Racist, Talvin Singh, Tyshawn Sorey, DJ Spooky, Imani Uzuri, Pamela Z, and John Zorn; filmmakers Haile Gerima and Bill Morrison; choreographer Karole Armitage; and poets Mike Ladd, Amiri Baraka, Charles Simic, and Robert Pinsky. His compositions have been performed by Ethel, JACK, Brentano String Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, and Imani Winds. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Iyer holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Yale University, plus a Masters in Physics and a Ph.D. in Technology and the Arts from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published articles in Journal of Consciousness Studies, Wire, Music Perception, JazzTimes, and The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010, and is on faculty at Manhattan School of Music and New York University.