Jazz phenom and scholar Vijay Iyer makes area appearance at Quick Center on Nov. 15 | Press Releases

Acclaimed pianist-composer brings Vijay Iyer Trio to Fairfield University

Jazz phenom and scholar Vijay Iyer performs with his critically acclaimed Vijay Iyer Trio at 8 p.m., Sat., Nov. 15, 2014 , at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The gifted pianist-composer recently won an unprecedented five "Best of the Year" honors (Jazz Artist, Pianist, Jazz Album, Jazz Group, and Rising Star Composer of the Year) in DownBeat's annual International Critics Poll from 2012, and he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship in 2013. He will be joined in concert by Stephan Crump on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. There will be a pre-performance talk at 7 p.m . with Vijay Iyer and Brian Torff, Fairfield University Music Professor and Music Program Director, in the Wien Experimental Theatre. Corporate Sponsors are Sheaffer and the Westport Inn. Media sponsor is WPKN (89.5) FM. Tickets are $40, $35, and $30; Fairfield University students: $5.

March 2014 marked the release of "Mutations," Iyer's eighteenth album and his debut for the prestigious ECM label: a recording for piano, string quartet and electronics, the first album to document his works for chamber ensembles. Two tremendously acclaimed and influential albums, "Accelerando" (2012) and "Historicity"(2009), both feature the Vijay Iyer Trio, recently described by PopMatters as "the best band in jazz." "Accelerando" was voted #1 Jazz Album of the Year for 2012 in three separate critics polls. "Historicity"was a 2010 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, and was named #1 Jazz Album of 2009 in The New York Times , The Los Angeles Times , the Chicago Tribune , the Detroit Metro Times , National Public Radio, PopMatters.com, the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll, and the DownBeat International Critics Poll.

A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Vijay Iyer, who was born in Albany, New York, and is of Indian heritage, received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the New School, and he is the Director of The Banff Centre's International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, an annual 3-week program in Alberta, Canada, founded by Oscar Peterson. In 2014, he began a permanent appointment at Harvard University's Department of Music, as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts. He has published in Journal of Consciousness Studies , Wire , Music Perception , JazzTimes , Journal of the Society for American Music , and other magazines and prestigious journals.

Iyers also earned a "quadruple crown" in the JazzTimes extended critics poll (winning Artist of the Year, Acoustic/Mainstream Group of the Year, Pianist of the Year, and Album of the Year), the Pianist of the Year Awards for 2012 and the 2013 ECHO Award (the "German Grammy") for best international pianist.

His musical compositions have been commissioned and performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano String Quartet, JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Imani Winds.

In reviewing one of his recent albums, JazzTimes wrote: "The jazz culture demands original versions of beauty, and Iyer has invented a proprietary piano language."

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.quickcenter.com .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com .