vijay iyer

first japanese rawk, now indian-american jazz?

vijay iyer (emphasis on first syllables, please) is an indian-born, new york-based pianist. the way the jazzcrits go on, you'd think that thelonious monk, cecil taylor, and andrew hill (not to mention bud powell and mccoy tyner) had a lovechild, and it was him. (that would be a _good_ thing.) he's made a bunch of rekkids, including collaborations with "jazz power trio" fieldwork, saxophonhist rudresh mahanthappa, and hip-hop/spoken word artist mike ladd. i will find out more.