Vijay Iyer - Panoptic Modes (2001)

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Description

Homepage
~~~~~~~ http://www.vijay-iyer.com/

Personnel
~~~~~~~~
* Vijay Iyer: piano
* Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone
* Stephan Crump: bass
* Derrek Phillips: drums

Review
~~~~~~
by David R. Adler http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gcfyxqy0ldfe

Pianist Vijay Iyer leads a quartet on his third outing, featuring Rudresh
Mahanthappa on alto saxophone, Stephan Crump on bass, and Derrek Phillips on
drums. Iyer's two previous releases were attempts to integrate the avant-garde,
South Asian, and M-Base concepts that shaped him as a player and composer. On
Panoptic Modes, Iyer continues to do this, but manages to arrive at the next
level in terms of artistic focus and vision. With this new quartet music (three
tracks are trio pieces), he continues to eschew the rhythmically obvious at all
costs. His harmonic and formal concepts are as challenging as ever, yet his
exceedingly difficult writing is rendered oddly accessible by the unperturbed
facility of his band. Highlights include the brisk, rolling rhythms and animated
piano/drum conversation heard on "Configurations"; the highly angular
juxtaposition of melody and bassline on "Atlantean Tropes"; the dark, suggestive
world of the anti-death penalty ballad "Numbers," which lasts not even two
minutes; and the stirring quartet remake of "Trident" (a far slower trio version
appeared on Iyer's 1998 record, Architextures). Highly recommended.