Vijay Iyer Releases “UnEasy” With Linda May Han Oh
Vijay Iyer has just released UnEasy, an album that sees the pianist presenting a new trio completed by drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh. Recorded in December 2019, the album features Iyer’s original compositions as well as versions of Gerri Allen’s “Drummer’s Song” and Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”
“We have an energy together that is very distinct,” Iyer says of the group. “It has a different kind of propulsion, a different impulse and a different spectrum of colours”.
The pianist went deeper into that idea in an NPR interview, speaking on how he connected with Linda May Han Oh. “It was Ambrose Akinmusire who told me about her. He was like, ‘She has that type of ear.’ It’s the type of ear that Ambrose has and that Tyshawn has, which is a real perspicuous awareness of everything that’s happening. So she functions very well in a rhythm section but then she also functions really well melodically. You hear this in the way she composes, too. As a soloist or melodicist, there’s a brightness in her playing; I hear it as an optimistic sound.”
Hear the bassist function in support and in a solo in this video for “Combat Breathing”:
UnEasy is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
UnEasy Track List:
- Children of Flint
- Combat Breathing
- Night and Day
- Touba
- Drummer’s Song
- Augury
- Configurations
- Uneasy
- Retrofit
- Entrustment
