Miller Theatre to Open Jazz Series with Vijay Iyer Trio

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts opens the 2016-17 Jazz series with the Vijay Iyer Trio, featuring Vijay Iyer, piano, Stephan Crump, bass, and Tyshawn Sorey, drums, on Saturday, October 22, 2016, 8:00 p.m. at Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street). Tickets: $25-$45 • Students with valid ID: $7-$27 at www.millertheatre.com/events/vijay-iyer-trio.

From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey: "I've been eager to invite Vijay Iyer to return to Miller Theatre since he played here in a piano duo with Craig Taborn all the way back in 2010. Our audiences experienced his work as a composer last season when Matt Haimovitz played Iyer's Run as a companion piece to Bach's Cello Suite No. 3. This October, Iyer and his long-standing trio will join us to perform in their utterly unparalleled style. We're certainly kicking off the Jazz series in style."

Vijay Iyer is no stranger to Miller audiences: he played in the venue with Craig Taborn a few years back, and his works for classical players have also been featured on Miller's stage. This time around, Miller will showcase Iyer's longstanding trio. For over a decade, the group has taken inspiration from everything from electronica to Indian classical to the jazz legend Thelonious Monk, mashing up genres and styles to create surprising and invigorating new jazz. "The logic of repurposing has always been part of what the trio does," says Iyer.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Vijay Iyer, piano (vijay-iyer.com) - Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was described by Pitchfork as "one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today." He has been voted DownBeat Magazine's Artist of the Year three times-in 2016, 2015 and 2012. Iyer was named DownBeat's 2014 Pianist of the Year, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, and a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist. In 2014 he began a permanent appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts in the Department of Music at Harvard University. The Vijay Iyer Trio was named 2015 Jazz Group of the Year in the DownBeat International Critics Poll, with Iyer having earlier received an unprecedented "quintuple crown" in the 2012 DownBeat Poll (winning Jazz Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Group of the Year, and Rising Star Composer categories), as well as a "quadruple crown" in the JazzTimes extended critics poll. The trio's album Historicity was a 2010 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, and was named #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 DownBeat International Critics Poll. His recent composer commissions include "Playlist for an Extreme Occasion" (2012) written for Silk Road Ensemble; "Dig The Say," written for Brooklyn Rider and released on their 2014 album Almanac; and "Mozart Effects" (2011) and "Time, Place, Action" (2014) for Brentano String Quartet.

Stephan Crump, bass (stephancrump.com) - Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated bassist/composer Stephan Crump has lived in Brooklyn since 1994. An active bandleader and composer, he has released ten critically-acclaimed albums in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. Crump has performed and recorded with a diverse range of musicians, from Portishead's Dave McDonald, The Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, to Patti Austin. Currently, he can be heard as a long-standing member of Vijay Iyer Trio and Sextet, Jen Chapin Band, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet, Secret Keeper (with Mary Halvorson), his own Rosetta Trio, as well as groups with Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Eric McPherson, Mat Maneri, and Okkyung Lee. Crump received his Bachelor of Music degree from Amherst College, where he studied under Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlin and was awarded the Sundquist Prize for performance and composition.

Tyshawn Sorey, drums - Tyshawn Sorey is an active composer, performer, educator, and scholar who works across an extensive range of musical idioms. As a percussionist, trombonist, and pianist, Tyshawn has performed and/or recorded nationally and internationally with his own ensembles and with artists such as MuhAl Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, Butch Morris, Peter Evans, Misha Mengelberg, John Zorn, Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith, Dave Douglas, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lehman, and Tim Berne, among many others. Tyshawn's work has been favorably reviewed in Traps, National Public Radio, JazzTimes, The Village Voice, The Wire, The New York Times, Modern Drummer, The Wall Street Journal, and Downbeat Magazine. As a composer, Tyshawn has composed over 160 works of all genres to date and received commissions from Van Lier Fellowship, Roulette, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Miller Theatre is located north of the Main Campus Gate at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall. Directions and information are available online at www.millertheatre.com or via the Miller Theatre Box Office, at 212.854.7799.