Improvisation

Vanguard Vibrations: Sharing the Air*

"You do know that sound is air, right?" remarked pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, thanking an exuberant audience for sharing the room, space, and air with his tremendous band on Thursday night. At New York's historic Village Vanguard, Iyer led his sextet in a tour-de-force performance that was at turns visceral, emotive, dramatic, nuanced, jarring, delicate, and exhilarating. While the music is complex, I find it corporeal rather than cerebral. This music is funky -- it's vibrant, groovy, and full of feeling, a full-body experience.