Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey – Compassion

ECM 2760 / 556 7498

Vijay Iyer (piano); Linda May Han Oh (double bass); Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Recorded May 2022

Pianist Iyer’s musical vision over the last few years has been astonishing, and his progress a pleasure to follow. From his duo recordings with Craig Taborn and Wadada Leo Smith, and his Sextet recording for ECM, Iyer has constantly sought new relationships and contexts in which to place his playing. As rewarding as these have been, this second recording from his Trio with Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey is proving to be a constantly shifting and evolving group that is now greater than the sum of its not inconsiderable parts.

The Trio appears to think as one, and whether the material is penned by the leader or from sources as diverse as Stevie Wonder, John Stubblefield, Geri Allen or Roscoe Mitchell whose ‘Nonaah’ gets a brief but energetic work out here, there is a synergy at work that takes the music to staggering heights.

The material is wide ranging yet handled by the three musicians in a manner that allows them to be creative whether playing within a tightly controlled framework, over an ostinato or free to roam and explore the very depths of the composition.

Has Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed’ ever received such an inventive and dynamic treatment? Intended by Iyer as an indirect homage to Chick Corea who also used to play the tune, the Trio push the composition hard. Sorey is a model of propulsion and invention at the kit; he has to be to keep pace with Linda May Han Oh’s thundering bass line. Iyer’s lines use subtle rhythmic and dynamic shifts to keep the music flowing, but for my money it is the bassist who takes the honours for her performance with a probing and absorbing solo.

An air of angst permeates Iyer’s compositions ‘Tempest’, ‘Maelstrom’ that works from a powerful and insistent piano motif that moves through subtle changes as the piece progresses, and the ballad ‘Panegyric’ that are all part of series of pieces written for an event in memory of those that died in the pandemic. Indeed, ‘Panegyric’ builds to such a fearsome climax that is a seeming act of defiance not to be beaten by events, and a more optimistic time ahead.

‘Where I Am’ is one of three compositions by Iyer that draws inspiration from the poet Eve L. Ewing and shows the incredible empathy in the way the Trio are able to move and reshape a composition in the moment.

This ability to seize the moment is perfectly captured in the ballads ‘It Goes’ and ‘Prelude: Orison’ which borrow its theme from one of Iyer’s own compositions, ‘For My Father’. This level of understanding on such an intuitive level can only be marvelled at, and the music often feels so complete with the Trio playing as one that the solos seem to part of the collective thinking as opposed to individual statements.

With Compassion Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey have furthered the work begun on Uneasy, and in doing so are creating a new and exciting direction for the piano trio.