Compassion

Improvising around Iyer compositions and numbers by Stevie Wonder, Roscoe Mitchell and more, these musicians foreground openness and receptivity… a trio of rare intuition. — The Guardian More…

Release Date: 2nd Feb 2024
Catalogue No: 5835143
Label: ECM

Jazzwise

Editor's Choice

March 2024
The Guardian

Jazz Album of the Month

February 2024
Presto Recording of the Week

16th February 2024

A1. Compassion

A2. Arch

A3. Overjoyed

B1. Maelstrom

B2. Prelude: Orison

B3. Tempest

C1. Panegyric

C2. Nonaah

C3. Where I Am

D1. Ghostrumental

D2. It Goes

D3. Free Spirits / Drummer's Song

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Recording of the Week, Vijay Iyer Trio - Compassion

16th February 2024

Exploding with musical ideas that move in all-encompassing harmony with one another, the faithful trio reunite in perhaps the first great ECM release of this year.

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy - the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey - with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio's flair for playing "with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity...while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with each other almost telepathically." Compassion, Iyer's eighth release as a leader for ECM, continues his drive to explore fresh territory while also referencing his forebears along the way, two of them long associated with the label.

The album includes a powerful interpretation of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed," which Iyer selected as an indirect homage to the late Chick Corea. Another tip of the hat comes with "Nonaah," a whirlwind of a piece by avant-garde sage Roscoe Mitchell, a key mentor for the pianist. Then there are Iyer's own melodically alluring, rhythmically invigorating compositions, ranging from the pensive title track to the hook-laced highlights "Tempest" and "Ghostrumental."

Vijay Iyer: piano

Linda May Han Oh: double bass

Tyshawn Sorey: drums

Reviews

Improvising around Iyer compositions and numbers by Stevie Wonder, Roscoe Mitchell and more, these musicians foreground openness and receptivity… a trio of rare intuition.

The student has become a master.

New,Compassion

Contents

Recording of the Week, Vijay Iyer Trio - Compassion

Download queue

New,Compassion

2 Vinyl Records

Other available formats

Contents

Download queue