"One of the 10 best albums of 1996"
-- Bob Rusch, editor, Cadence Magazine
"MEMOROPHILIA on Asian Improv Records is outstanding."
-- Joe Finn, Jazz Friends Review

-- Teed Rockwell, India Currents

"... (T)he powerful album ... reveal(s) Iyer's adventurous jazz concepts, eclectic sources of inspiration, and creative approaches to rhythm and space."

-- Derk Richardson, East Bay Express, Berkeley

"... Pianist Iyer has brought both his south Indian cultural sensibility and his angular, occasionally funk-driven M-Base propensity to the Bay Area's Asian-American jazz scene, and his superb debut CD displays multiple facets of his eclectic jazz personality. The core group ... is Iyer's trio (but) the personnel changes ... give Iyer different contexts for his intelligent compositions and thoughtful piano work."

-- Derk Richardson, San Francisco Guardian

"Iyer's auspicious debut album ... of his original compositions is vibrant with an Ellingtonian elegance. The music is thoughtfully conceived and gorgeously executed, its engaging melodicism and harmonic sophistication belying the composer's youth."

-- Sam Prestianni, The Montclarion, Oakland

"... mature and fluent ... Iyer shows off a prodigious technique and an acute improvisational ear on nine diverse selections... a genuine talent."

-- Caspar Melville, On the One

"... Iyer courageously combines the influences of jazz mavericks like Coltrane, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Cecil Taylor, as well as the classical Carnatic music of his Indian heritage... Iyer's compositions weave these traditions together in fascinating rhythmic development and harmonic progression. Iyer's compositions vary in mood and instrumental texture from the restless 'March and Epilogue' to the contemplative solo piano piece 'Algebra,' in which he takes a journey from the expanses of jazz to the inner musings of his mind."

-- Lumi Rolley, A. Magazine

"Piano marvel... Throughout the recording, Iyer's fiery playing remains constant, a forceful though melodic style that owes as much to Randy Weston as it does to the rhythms of tabla master Zakir Hussain."

-- Matt Galloway, NOW Magazine, Toronto

"Judging by the company he keeps, pianist Iyer is heading for a substantial career... Iyer reminds me of several other younger pianists (Armen Donelian, Brad Meldhau, Renee Rosnees) who have absorbed a considerable variety of harmonic languages, from the obvious Monk and Ellington to Herbie Nichols, Elmo Hope and Andrew Hill... and can easily call up any of them. In Iyer's case, he augments this with a keen interest in the classical music of South India (Iyer is of Indian descent)."

-- John Baxter, Option magazine
 
 

"This is an impressive debut... There is little flash in his playing. It's all substance. It's most noticeable in the trio pieces "Stars Over Mars" and "Memorophilia" where he simply wades into the rhythm section with both hands, digging for the expressive core of the music. A member of a generation of pianists that often opts for style over substance, Iyer refers instead to the lineage of probing pianists, like Elmo Hope and Andrew Hill, who keep jabbing at the keyboard until they find something that wasn't there before. The approach is essentially contrapuntal, sometimes even in the way it plays ideas against expectations.

"Iyer is blessed by the quality of his guests. Steve Coleman joins the trio on two pieces and provides concentrated, analytical focus. The band that Iyer calls Spirit Complex -- with Lewis, Wong, and Kavee -- is present for just two remarkable tracks, but on them it establishes a powerful ensemble identity, with an orchestral power coming from the trombone and tenor. Wong almost blows the house down on 'March and Epilogue,' and the closing 'Segment for Sentiment #2' is serene and profound."

-- Stuart Broomer, Cadence magazine

"This jazz recording is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding examples of original contemporary jazz I can remember hearing in a long, long while. Vijay Iyer is a brilliant young pianist who, with his compliment of outstanding musical companions, serves up a delightful smorgasbord of jazz colors, harmonies, textures, and rhythms that make you think you're in a surreal dream of jazz fantasy and excitement. I make that statement boldly, without reservation... The music is not your typical straight-ahead jazz jam session. It is a work of art with orchestral balance and dignity."

-- Rob Fisch, Jazz Friends Review

"The title 'Memorophilia' -- coined by young jazz artist Vijay Iyer's father -- perfectly describes the remembering of African and Asian histories and the love for both cultures. Iyer, in the true tradition of jazz, has a critical socio-political outlook which underpins his musical being. At age 25, the self-taught musician has accumulated a vast talent; his influences include such avant-garde jazz kings as Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Steve Coleman, George Lewis, and local heroes Kash Killion and Francis Wong. In his relatively short Bay Area stint, Iyer has carved himself a position that radiates a musical expertise and a deep commitment to progressive ideals.

"Having recovered from studying physics at Yale, Iyer has gone on to a Ph.D. program in music technology at the University of California, Berkeley. His integrity and iconoclascism can be off-putting to the mainstream who are used to easy-listening and non-thinking music. Indeed, his compositions have a high aesthetic IQ that demands a discerning ear paying close attention. This CD is not for background listening; it is instead an education in harmony and melody. There are off-the-wall pieces that can sound cacaphonous to the casual listener, as well as gorgeous, elaborate piano solos.

"...His live shows at Yoshi's in Oakland have been mesmerizing in their impeccable improvisations with his trio. The sonic sophistication makes him a rare architect of sound that as yet is still considered too fringe for the status quo.

"Jazz performers are historically strongly individualistic and serve as voices for the down-trodden. Iyer is forging a new language that incorporates his South-Indian roots and a deep respect for African culture. These experiments in artistic truth forge a palette of the soul: a much-needed panacea for the social ills of scientific-rational thinking that have come to overtake contemporary society.

"Iyer has cultivated a new freedom for his spirit in musical canvasses. His world is serious yet charming, real yet illusory, imaginative yet practical. Finally, I venerate Vijay as a true artiste whose positivistic and healing nature make him a modern shaman."

-- Sanxe Loveji, Infusion (a webzine for the global, mobile, cyber South Asian)

Pianist Vijay Iyer, the son of immigrants from southern India, takes his heritage quite seriously; that he has managed to honor it while creating vital and thought-provoking jazz suggests that we should take him seriously in turn. In his liner notes for his debut album, Memorophilia (Asian Improv Records), Iyer stresses two themes: his affinity, as a person of color, to the African-American musical tradition, and the impact of karnatak classical music of southern India -- specifically its complex yet soulful rhythms. You hear the latter perhaps most clearly on "Algebra," a solo piano track from Iyer's album, but it informs a great deal of his music, finding a common ground with the propulsive Africanized rhythms that Art Blakey and John Coltrane brought to jazz in the 50s and 60s. [The 25-year-old] already shows maturity with respect to technique, a fair amount of restraint as an improviser, and a willingness to dig more deeply than many musicians of his experience. These things -- along with his ability to convincingly lead on jams that range from the catchily accessible to the fiercely atonal -- make his album a delightfully strong document. Iyer attracted some impressive hired guns to play on Memorophilia, including trombonist George Lewis and alto saxist Steve Coleman, both former Chicagoans...