Vijay Iyer Trio at San Jose Jazz Winter Fest at Theatre on San Pedro Square

Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was described by Pitchfork as "one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today," and by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star.” The American-born son of Indian immigrants, he won an unprecedented five major awards in the 2012 DownBeat International Critics Poll and was named one of the “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by GQ India.


Iyer has released sixteen albums as a leader; his most recent, 2012’s Accelerando, is an intense, visceral and widely acclaimed follow-up to 2009’s multiple award-winning Historicity, both featuring the Vijay Iyer Trio. Historicity was named Jazz Album of the Year in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and by dozens of reviewers worldwide....

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Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was described by Pitchfork as "one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today," and by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star.” The American-born son of Indian immigrants, he won an unprecedented five major awards in the 2012 DownBeat International Critics Poll and was named one of the “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by GQ India.


Iyer has released sixteen albums as a leader; his most recent, 2012’s Accelerando, is an intense, visceral and widely acclaimed follow-up to 2009’s multiple award-winning Historicity, both featuring the Vijay Iyer Trio. Historicity was named Jazz Album of the Year in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and by dozens of reviewers worldwide.


Iyer has collaborated with fellow forward-thinker Ambrose Akinmusire (featured in 2012’s Winter Fest); music pioneer Steve Coleman; new-music experimenter John Zorn; hip-hop innovator Dead Prez; South Asian producer Talvin Singh; and prominent filmmakers, choreographer, and poets. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Iyer holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, he will become Director of Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, founded by piano legend Oscar Peterson.

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