美国国家公共电台 NPR Vijay Iyer On Jazz's 'History Of Defiance,' His Influences And Playing In A Sextet

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER SEXTET'S "FAR FROM OVER")

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is the music of Vijay Iyer. He's an acclaimed 1 jazz pianist, MacArthur winner and professor of music at Harvard. This new album, recorded with a six-person band, is called "Far From Over." Vijay Iyer joins us now from Banff, Alberta. Thanks so much for being with us.

VIJAY IYER: Sure. Thanks for having me.

SIMON: How did this group of musicians begin to come into your life, and how did you begin to play together?

IYER: Well, I moved to New York about 19 years ago. And some of them I met not long after that. It's really come into its own. It has its own identity and its own way of working together, you know, that builds a certain kind of trust, a certain bond that I think is expressed in the music. And it sort of supports it so that we're able to sometimes go out on a limb (laughter) and do something a little bit wild.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER SEXTET'S "FAR FROM OVER")

SIMON: Going out on a limb - isn't that what jazz is all about?

IYER: I don't know. I mean, I think that word gets used and overused and misused 2 and kind of caricatured. I think of it as the history of a people, you know, and the history of ideas, a history of defiance 3, a history of unity 4, a history of joy and transcendence and also a history of responding to conditions of oppression and terror. So I always think about my relationship to that history as a South Asian-American. And I try to honor that history while still being myself.

SIMON: Well, let's listen to another track, if we can. And this one is "Good On The Ground."

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER SEXTET'S "GOOD ON THE GROUND")

SIMON: Is it OK if I hear some South Indian folk rhythms in there?

IYER: (Laughter) It's OK. That's perfectly 5 OK. I mean, my parents are from India. And the rhythmic 6 and melodic 7 ideas from Carnatic music and from Indian folk music had an influence on me. It's sort of been in the background my whole life. And then when I was in my 20s, I started trying to put it more in the foreground. And I guess with this band, I wanted to kind of work with different dance rhythms and dance impulses. And so that was one that you kind of associate with the courtyard of a temple in South India or something like that. It's a very simple rhythm that excites and electrifies 8.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER SEXTET'S "GOOD ON THE GROUND")

SIMON: What kind of music did you grow up listening to and enjoying in your family?

IYER: Well, I actually grew up listening mostly to the radio - pop music and rock and soul music from the '70s and '80s when I grew up.

SIMON: But jazz is where you felt the greatest connection, I guess.

IYER: Well, I sort of regard that word as a pretty open one in the sense that if you look at the history of the music, it's been a category that keeps shifting.

SIMON: Yeah.

IYER: I think the main idea is that you tell your story, you know? And I've studied Duke Ellington's music, Thelonious Monk's music, Bud Powell. But I also know that the reason we're on this planet (laughter) as individuals is to express and reflect the moment we're in.

SIMON: I wonder if you think it has something particularly to say to these times.

IYER: Well I think that there's a history of defiance in it. You know, when I talk to my students about it, I kind of frame it as a history of community organizing because it was about people coming together in pretty dire 9 circumstances and sort of against all odds 10, creating beauty and changing the world (laughter). You know, that's really what it was.

SIMON: Yeah.

IYER: So when understood in that way, there's a lot to learn about what we must do today.

SIMON: Vijay Iyer - his album is "Far From Over" - that's the title. Thanks so much for being with us.

IYER: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER SEXTET'S "FOR AMIRI BARAKA")