Tragicomic | Vijay Iyer

My review of Vijay Iyer’s Tragicomic ran today at PopMatters.

I was looking forward to this, having gotten taste of Iyer’s work (and influences) from his (sadly now expired yet still helpful) mixtape contribution over at Destination: Out. Also, his saxophone player on this record is Rudresh Manhanthappa, who I found exceptional on Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers.

Thankfully, Tragicomic lived up to my expectations.

Iyer is an artist and an intellectual, with a doctorate in Technology and the Arts, as well as a Masters and undergraduate degree in physics from some very prestigious institutions. He’s a thinker, and that’s evident all over Tragicomic.

In the liner notes, he indicates that he sees the blending of serious drama and lighthearted humor in tragicomedy to be an essential aspect of human resilience. He quotes Cornell West, who identifies the tragicomic response in blues music, the bittersweet songs that turn heartbreak and sorrow into beautiful, uplifting art, as a direct reaction to the horrors of slavery and oppression which hung over black culture.

Iyer sees the usefulness of tragicomedy in the present, as we as a society, irrespective of race, endure one of the most terrifying and disturbing chapters of our history. Tragicomedy inculcates the reality that nothing is ever all good or all bad, and that even in the darkest of times, light can be tease out. Iyer says this is an opportunity for metamorphosis, transmuting the tragedy into something greater and more hopeful. It’s a pleasant thought.

Musically, he draws from other piano greats, with the forceful command of Cecil Taylor and the melodic grasp of Andrew Hill (it’s no great leap to identify these two as influences, he says as much in the Destination Out mixtape). He and Manhanthappa are both strong, evocative players, and together they fit well, Manhanthappa’s booming saxophone lines dovetailing nicely with Iyer’s delicately firm runs.