Compassion

by Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey, Linda May Han Oh

Overview

Compassion is the sophomore set from the Vijay Iyer-led trio with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey for ECM, following 2021's Uneasy. Compassion was co-produced by the pianist and Manfred Eicher. Its songs embrace pain, joy, pleasure, and suffering, yet are articulated with openness and equanimity. According to Iyer's liner notes, the players developed their music on-stage. Iyer composed nine of the set's 12 tracks. Half are from recent performance projects -- "Maelstrom," "Tempest," and "Panegyric," from Tempest, are dedicated to the victims of the pandemic -- like the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival. Another three, "Ghostrumental," "It Goes," and "Where I Am," are drawn from 2022's Everywhere I Go, an ensemble project inspired by writings of poet Eve L. Ewing. "Prelude Orison" comes out of "For My Father," a classically tinged elegy for Iyer's father premiered in 2022 by pianist Sarah Rothenberg. The album's three covers seemingly glance in the rearview even as they journey forward. The title-track opener is introduced by 55 seconds of Sorey carefully and spaciously working his drum kit. When Iyer and Oh enter, they do so with graceful chords, as if offering a processional. The theme shifts, altering dynamics and tempo, transforming itself into a whirlwind before whispering to a close. "Arch," for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, enters with a rippling, syncopated scalar piano vamp that illuminates a dramatic chord progression. Sorey punctuates with fills and breaks on snare and hi-hat as Oh responds harmonically and rhythmically. Her solo is physical, dazzling even; it becomes the hub for the tune's assorted tonal voices. The reading of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" was inspired by Chick Corea's performance during his final livestream. It was developed on the loaned piano Corea used for it. During the album's final third, the musicians deliver one of the most creative, locked-in improvisations on the record. The stillness in "Prelude: Orison" softly, spaciously quotes from "Nature Boy" before deliberately illuminating vulnerable resonance in each note, emerging into each deliberately placed chord voicing which is then underscored by Oh's poignant solo. This version of Roscoe Mitchell's oft-recorded "Nonaah" is a mere two-and-a-half minutes long -- à la the Art Ensemble of Chicago's on Fanfare for the Warriors -- it captures the detailed structural architecture then buoys it with humor, physicality, and precision. "Free Spirits - Drummer's Song" resurrects John Stubblefield's classic cut as performed by Mary Lou Williams on an album of the same title. The trio delivers a similar knotty, joyful back-and-forth interplay while enthusiastically extending its harmonic reach before emerging with a two-measure section of Geri Allen's "Drummer's Song" -- a tune they cut in full on Uneasy. Sorey inventively bridges, then dances around piano ostinato and driving bassline with sharp articulation as the group weave the rest into a careening, joyful whole. Compassion is a hefty companion to Uneasy. Musically, it's deeper and wider. Their mature group invention is heightened by their playing together live. They bring a fresh, intensely interactive, seemingly time-elasticizing approach to the jazz piano trio that is at once bracingly kinetic, intimate, and lyrical. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	02/02/2024
Label:	Ecm
UPC:	0602455674982

Tracks

1. Compassion
2. Arch
3. Overjoyed
4. Maelstrom
5. Orison (Prelude)
6. Tempest
7. Panegyric
8. Nonaah
9. Where I Am
10. Ghostrumental
11. It Goes
12. Free Spirits/Drummer's Song

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Vijay Iyer   Primary Artist,Piano
Linda May Han Oh   Primary Artist,Double Bass,Bass (Upright)
Tyshawn Sorey   Primary Artist,Drums

Technical Credits

Vijay Iyer   Liner Notes,Producer,Composer
John Stubblefield   Composer
Stevie Wonder   Composer
Geri Allen   Composer
Manfred Eicher   Producer
Sascha Kleis   Design
Jan Kricke   Cover Photo
Ryan Streber   Engineer
Roscoe Mitchell   Composer