Vijay Iyer Trio

Polyphonic musical language

As a member of the first generation of Americans with Asian Indian roots, music was important for Vijay Iyer as part of his quest for identity. It’s no surprise, then, that the pianist, who was born in Albany, New York, in 1971, feels at home in a number of musical communities. Influences from the Afro-American music of the 1960s and 1970s unfold in his playing, from pianists such as Thelonious Monk, Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen, as well as from West Africa and India.