Historicity (album)

Historicity
Studio album by
Vijay Iyer Trio
ReleasedOctober 13, 2009
RecordedNovember 3, 2008 & March 31, 2009 at Systems Two Sound, NYC
GenreJazz
Length61:50
LabelACT Music ACT 9489
ProducerVijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer chronology
Tragicomic
(2008) 		Historicity
(2009) 		Solo
(2010)

Historicity is an album by pianist Vijay Iyer released on the ACT label in 2009.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic87/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
All About Jazz[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
PopMatters[6]
Tom HullA–[7]

The album received universal acclaim with Metacritic giving it a score of 87 from 8 reviews.[2] The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 4½ stars out of 5, stating, "Vijay Iyer has mad skills, overwhelmingly and powerfully demonstrated on all of his recordings, but especially this one. He's also maturing at a rapid rate, while at the height of his powers on this incredible effort that sounds like much more than a mere piano-bass-drums mainstream jazz trio. This is an incredible CD, and a strong candidate for best jazz CD of 2009".[3] Writing for All About Jazz, Chris May said, "A galvanizing album. No further explanation necessary. Please".[4] PopMatters writer Will Layman said, "Pianist Vijay Iyer is happy to stun you, to knock you into awe, to blow your mind. He brings technique, imagination, and wide perspective to his art. Historicity, the first recording wholly devoted to Iyer’s trio with bassist Stephen Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore, is a jewel".[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Vijay Iyer except as indicated

  1. "Historicity" - 7:50
  2. "Somewhere" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim) - 6:57
  3. "Galang (Trio Riot Version)" (Justine Frischmann, Maya Arulpragasam, Ross Orton, Steve Mackey) - 2:41
  4. "Helix" - 4:00
  5. "Smoke Stack" (Andrew Hill) - 8:09
  6. "Big Brother" (Stevie Wonder) - 4:48
  7. "Dogon A.D." (Julius Hemphill) - 9:20
  8. "Mystic Brew (Trixation Version)" (Ronnie Foster) - 4:56
  9. "Trident: 2010" - 9:10
  10. "Segment for Sentiment #2" - 4:03

Personnel

References

  1. ^ ACT discography accessed September 16, 2014
  2. ^ a b Metacritic summary, accessed September 16, 2014
  3. ^ a b Nastos, Michael G. "Historicity - Vijay Iyer". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
  4. ^ a b May, Chris (2009-10-09). "Vijay Iyer: Historicity". allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
  5. ^ Barton, Chris (14 October 2009). "Album review: Vijay Iyer Trio's 'Historicity'". LA Times Blogs - Pop & Hiss. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b Layman, W., PopMatters Review, October 25, 2009
  7. ^ Hull, Tom. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Vijay Iyer". tomhull.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.