Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Composers Wadada Leo Smith and Vijay Iyer are inveterate collaborators. Compile their past work together and you’re staring down a list that includes Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, Pauline Oliveros, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, and more. But something singular and deeply special happens when they work one on one, as they do on the recently released Defiant Life. “We just create,” Smith says. “You could call it ‘composition’ or ‘spontaneous composition’ or ‘spontaneous improvisation’ or some kind of stuff like that. But the truth is, all the serious documents about humans on this planet refer to creation.”

Transmissions :: Vijay Iyer

Pianist, composer, and bandleader Vijay Iyer joins us on Transmissions. He joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his new ECM release, Compassion, his collaborations with Shahzad Ismaily and Arooj Aftab, reflect on the post-pandemic nebulousness in the air, discuss his mentors Greg Tate and Amiri Baraka, and much more.

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han OH, Tyshawn Sorey :: Compassion

Get pianist Vijay Iyer in a trio and just see what happens. On last year’s visionary Love in Exile, he explored psychic heights and chasm-deep spaces with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist and electronics wizard Shahzad Ismaily. And now, “Compassion,” the lithe title track from his forthcoming ECM outing with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey.