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| Tragicomic | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 20991
Category: Music
Artist: Vijay Iyer
Publisher: Sunny Side Records
Studio: Sunny Side Records
Manufacturer: Sunny Side Records
Label: Sunny Side Records
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 1186
UPC: 016728118620
EAN: 0016728118620
ASIN: B0015I2PDG
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | The Weight of Things | | • | Macaca Please | | • | Aftermath | | • | Comin' Up | | • | Without Lions | | • | Mehndi | | • | Age of Everything | | • | Window Text | | • | I'm All Smiles | | • | Machine Days | | • | Threnody | | • | Becoming |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Imagine a pianist with Thelonious Monk s angularity, Cecil Taylor s force, and Andrew Hill s genius, coupled with a profound compositional mind that extends, elevates, and elaborates on the traditions of jazz, world, and Indian music, and you ll get Vijay Iyer, the most critically acclaimed improvisationally oriented artist of this young century. Named the # 1 Rising Star Jazz Artist of the Year and the # 1 Rising Star Composer of the Year in Down Beat magazine s 2006 and 2007 International Critics Poll, this sensational South Asian/American pianist/composer/author/educator has performed and recorded with an impressive roster of stars, from Steve Coleman and John Zorn, to poet Amiri Baraka and the rap duo dead prez, and has presented a number of astonishing CDs as a leader and co-leader.
Any artist blessed with such far-reaching gifts will have something to say. And on Tragicomic, his Sunnyside debut, Iyer delivers a stupendous sonic commentary on our contemporary world. With him is his fabulous quartet, featuring alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, bassist Stephan Crump, and drummer Marcus Gilmore, the grandson of the legendary drum giant Roy Haynes. This twelve-track recording is the augmented version of a previous piece of the same name commissioned by Chamber Music America. Cornel West decodes the blues aesthetic as a tragicomic sensibility stemming from a sustained encounter with arguably history's greatest, cruelest absurdity the kind in which even ultimate purpose and objective order are called into question ... Iyer writes in the CD s liner notes. In our perilous moment of global transition, we have everything to learn from this sensibility. A tragicomic outlook can ease our pains of metamorphosis and help us dream the next phase into being. That's how and why this music was made.
Iyer s music mirrors the complex political, economic, religious and social challenges in today s world, which results in a kind of quantum jazz: a poly-tempoed approach, where two listeners can hear two different time signatures at the same point in a composition. The Coltrane-coded The Weight of Things and Becoming open and close the CD. The four selections from the commissioned work include the florid, Aftermath, the dark, algorhythmic Without Lions, the metronomic, avant-rock number Machine Days and the foreboding Threnody. Other tracks include the introspective Mehndi, contrasted by the mockingly frenetic Macaca Please, which refers to an ethnic slur uttered a couple of years ago by a Virginia senator. The para-reggae pulsations of Bud Powell's Comin' Up is the first of four trio selections (minus Mahanthappa), followed by Window Text and Age of Everything, which swing with syncopations that stretch from South America to the subcontinent. The waltzy I m All Smiles - the CD s only solo piano selection - highlights Iyer s expansive command of the jazz piano tradition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Hypnotic and exhilarating January 28, 2009
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This album soothes and excites. It is darkly mesmerizing. It takes you down a path that is both difficult and easing. The vision of both the pianist and the saxaphonist is clear - take the listener on a journey. I usually listen to old school jazz. I enjoy this album, which nods to Keith Jarrett and Charlie Parker without being derivative. It's modern and it's rich.
Six Stars October 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After listening to and enjoying "Reimagining" since its release, I was a little worried that the Iyer Quartet had peaked. How could they top that wonderful album?
In the past couple of months, I've had "Tragicomic" on heavy rotation, and I must say now that it has somehow improved on perfection.
This music isn't easy to listen to, though, as some have noted, it's possibly Iyer's most accessible album to date. First couple of encounters might leave you feeling lost in the vortices of sound.
The opening track, "The Weight of Things," is dreamy, a great introduction to the sound world of the album. "Coming Up," a Bud Powell cover that makes great use of arpeggi and, just when you least expect it, reggae-like syncopations, is the track most likely to get radio play (if such radio existed!). "Without Lions" is made of alternating solos between Iyer and Mahanthappa. There's some absolutely stunning phrasing from both of them on this one, and Mahanthappa's first solo in particular takes my breath away every single time.
The Iyer quartet has always been metrically sophisticated, rarely more so than on "Age of Everything" which brings to mind "Cardio" and "Phalanx" from the "Reimaginings" album. The tight ostinato arguments laid out by the rhythm section will be familiar to fans. Bassist Stephan Crump is the heartbeat of the operation, a virtuoso. Listening to these ostinato-centered tracks, I can just picture him the way he is on stage, dancing with the bass, playing it almost like it were a percussion instrument. His joy in the work shines through on every track that features the bass.
"I'm All Smiles" is a cute solo track that almost sounds like a drunk-waltz version of "All the Things You Are."
The last two tracks, "Threnody" and "Becoming," are down-tempo. This band can play fast and smart, but they've also got serious lyrical depth. "Threnody" is a dirge that gains power by accretion.
"Becoming," for the trio, takes us back into the mood of "The Weight of Things." The arpeggiated pools of that open it sound almost like a muezzin's improvisation or an oud solo, and they lead into a simple eight note melody (the first four directly lifted from "The Weight of Things") that is repeated several times over the swirling texture of Gilmore's brushes. The album fades away like a prophetic vision.
One more thing: the liner notes. For many first or second generation Americans, gaining some distance from the African-American experience is de rigeur (i.e. within a generation, show that you've achieved the American dreams, become like the whites, leaving the blacks in last place). Iyer, without getting too much into it, shows a sensitivity to the African-American experience of the blues. Iyer instinctively knows that no encounter with the America can afford to gloss over the black experience; that, indeed, the tragedy and comedy of the black experience, particularly as expressed in the blues, could be the key to the whole thing. In his notes, he quotes Cornell West to powerful effect.
Anyway, that has nothing to do with the music, but it does tell us that the intelligence behind it is a complete one. It's surely time to stop calling him a rising star, time to drop the "rising."
Highly recommended disc. Six stars.
groundbreaking July 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a groundbreaking album for contemporary jazz. After "Reimagining" and "Raw Materials", Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa climb to new heights...
Iyer's complex but enjoyable compositons and "m-based piano solos", plus Mahanthappa's groovy style are really great. Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums are passionate players who polish the light on these compositions.
"The Weight of Things" is a perfect intro, giving the feel of a tunnel that you're passing to reach the wealth of music. Then came the explosion: "Macaca Please", the structure of compositon is like a whirlpool. "Aftermath" is like a river flowing to infinity. "Comin up" is the summit of trio playing. "Mehndi" is the silent voyage etc... All compositons are great and telling their own stories... There's no blank in this CD... Really perfect...
Beautifully Complex Compositions June 15, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Overview:
With Tragicomic, Vijay Iyer brings back the same group from Reimagining (Rudresh Mahanthappa on sax, Stephen Crump on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums). The overall mood of the album is a bit more somber and reflective than Reimagining, and a little bit less frenetic. The compositions, and particularly the time signatures and rhythm section have gotten even more complex. At first the rhythmic complexity can seem a bit overwhelming but after a few listens you really start to appreciate the uniqueness of Vijay's style and enjoy the ridiculousness of some of the insane drum and bass lines. Rudresh's sax tends to be a little less of his traditional ballistic assault on scales, and a little bit more lyrical than usual. While I enjoy what he has done in the past it is quite nice to see a more lyrical side of the young star. The highlight of the album are the 4 commissioned pieces from Iyer's Tragicomic Suite (Aftermath, Without Lions, Machine Days, Threnody) where Iyer has taken his compositions skills to another level.
Song Highlights:
The Weight of Things: This gorgeous 2+ minute introduction really sets the mood for the whole album. Mahanthappa's haunting, reflective sax line combined with Iyer's cascading flowing piano segues perfectly into Macaca Please.
Aftermath: The first of 4 songs from the Tragicomic suite opens with a somber repetitive piano line from Iyer, who is quickly joined by a reflective Mahanthappa sax. There is a very epic and somber mood on this track with a lot of feeling.
Without Lions: The track opens with a staccato chord progression that segues into a section with Vijay and Rudresh trade off short solo lines for several minutes. Another fine example of the wonderful chemistry between these two long time friends and collaborators.
Machine Days: Machine Days opens with a heartbeat pounding of Gilmore's bass drum. He is soon joined by Iyer on the low keys. After a short duet, the rest of the band joins in with a frenetic melody (classic Mahanthappa).
Summary: Vijay Iyer has always written complex fascinating songs, and has been a thinking man's favorite. On this release he combines these skills with some of his most emotional and mood inspired work.
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