Accelerando cover

Accelerando

Released

This is recorded and played and mixed so that you hear  bassist Stphan Crump, drummer Marcus GIlmore, and pianist Vijay Iyer equally, all of them at the front of the mix. That means that the bass and drums are much louder than you get on a jazz piano trio album, and the lower frequencies are thick. Everything is also alive and sparkly without being chaotic or shouty—this isn’t exactly dinner music, though it is very friendly. The take on the Michael Jackson classic, “Human Nature,” is good enough to justify the whole expedition, which blends Ellington and Flying Lotus tunes into a stack of Iyer compositions. Long and meaty and great.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Recommended by

Suggestions
Alien Left Hand cover

Alien Left Hand

Janette Mason, Tom Arthurs, Dudley Phillips, Martin Shaw, Josh Giunta, Lea DeLaria, Tracy Holloway, Julian Siegel
Mannerlaatta cover

Mannerlaatta

Mika Vainio
Revealing cover

Revealing

James Blood Ulmer
Emphasis, Stuttgart 1961 cover

Emphasis, Stuttgart 1961

Jimmy Giuffre, Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
Tribe cover

Tribe

Enrico Rava
Live at Birdland cover

Live at Birdland

Paul Motian, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz