Credits:

Vijay Iyer

Description:

Enter Vijay Iyer's second ECM trio work and seventh leader work in total. Vijay's unique musical approach, in which one idea gives birth to another, keeps changing form and pushing boundaries from one album to the next, has won him many accolades, and The New York Times has described his persona as "a social conscience, a multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker, and gateway to multiculturalism," summarizes Vijay. This is the first studio recording of the trio, who have been playing together throughout 2019. Tyshawn and Vijay first worked together on Vijay's 2003 quartet album Blood Sutra, and have performed together frequently since, including on Vijay's 2017 ECM release Far From Over.Linda May Han Oh is a new collaborator and consistent guest faculty member of the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop in Alberta, Canada, where the bassist, who has been performing with the workshop for several years, is co He has developed a close friendship with Vijay and Tyshawn, the artistic directors of the workshop. Linda and Tyshawn have recorded at ECM before, with Solay playing on Roscoe Mitchell's "Bells For The South Side" and Oh playing bass on German pianist Florian Weber's ECM debut "Lucent Waters" as her She adds her unique voice to the mix. Her lighthearted wordplay and Tyshawn's strong yet deeply musical swing set Vijay apart from her past work and contrasts with her previous trio effort, "Break Stuff." We have a very unique energy," says Vijay. It has a different kind of drive, a different impulse, a different spectrum of colors," Vijay exclaims of his trio partners.UnEasy, the title of the album, is the name of a dance project conceived in 2011 between Vijay and choreographer Karole Armitage's dance company. UnEasy builds on the paradox implied by its title, suggesting an atmosphere of menace deep into the world and a time of unrest a decade and a decade later. The album features eight original Vijay compositions written over a period of 20 years, plus Cole Porter's "Night And Day" and Geri Allen's "Drummer Song." The latter is the second Geri Allen song, following "The Transitory Poems" (which ends with Allen's "When Kabuya Dances") with Craig Taborn. With this album, he's continuing to move the music forward, drawing on musical history. In the process of this endeavor, the political and social upheavals that dominate the American landscape today are reflected in a space of musical contemplation and tension.In his liner notes, Vijay writes, "Today, the word 'anxiety' seems too mild and brutally understated for these turbulent times. But the word contains its opposite, and perhaps reminds us that the most soothing and healing music is often born of and situated within deep anxiety." [Personnel] Vijay Iyer (p) Linda May Han Oh (double bass) Tyshawn Sorey (ds)

Tracklisting:

1.Children of Flint
2.Combat Breathing
3.Night and Day
4.Touba
5.Drummer’s Song
6.Augury
7.Configurations
8.Uneasy
9.Retrofit
10.Entrustment