Well, now that it’s late @ night, it’s the perfect time for me to wax jazzical. I love playing armchair quarterback and analyzing musicians who are far more accomplished than I will ever be. All of my comments here should be taken w/ a grain of salt as I’m not a professional musician…only a music lover. Anyway, here are my thoughts based only on the 9 one minute soundbytes available on her web site:

1. The sound in general has a very ECM feel to it. Not surprising seeing as how her bio says she spent some time playing w/ Bob Moses.
2. Some of the tracks sound, to me, a lot like some of Patricia Barber’s recordings, minus the vocals, of course.
3. I like the fact that all the tunes have a groove to them. While I have mad respect for Vijay Iyer, his music does not make an emotional connection with me. I listen to his albums for the intellectual exercise, but once I understand what’s going on rhythmically and harmonically, his music does not move me to listen beyond that.
4. I LOVE the clarinet playing on the 6th track. This is because, again only based on the one minute sound clip, he actually plays in the lower registers of the clarinet. I love it when horn players, or any instrumentalist for that matter, plays in the lower registers because it draws a much more resonant tone out of the instrument. Miles Davis understood this, and figure he’s probably the most popular jazz musician of all time, so why doesn’t anyone else?
5. Her drummer’s playing reminds me a lot of Jon Christensen.
6. If you like this album, you should check out some of Peter Erskine’s records. In particular, Live at Rocco or his ECM recordings w/ John Taylor and Palle Daniellson.

Prizes (shortlists, if not necessarily winners) tell us something about artistic quality, but yes, they are also subject to fleeting fashion. It’s not all or nothing. The recognition that a prize brings can (financially) help an artist make more art, or (if the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play) it can starve artistic inspiration. Everything is everything.

Peace, Gautham.

I envy thee sir. I would be willing to pawn my nuggets to pick Prasanna’s brain. I guess he’s primarily a carnatic musician more than anything, and particularly shines in improv. Ragabop is a tour de force examplifying his penchant for florid bebop lines (with the amazing Victor Wooten keeping pace, note for note) without sacrificing the haunting cadence of the Hamsavadhini raaga (of course, Carnatic music is beyond my head, although I was raised in its melodic appeal.)He’s been foraying into sort of a acid-rock-jazz phase now, with Electric Ganesha Land, an homage to Hendrix, I’m not too thrilled by that. He tends to play the east coast for some reason, and usually comes to L.A, where I live merely to record. Well he used to at least. Anyway, didn’t want to thread hijack this post with Prasanna. Today is Zoe’s day.

as for vijay: go to his website and you’ll get a sense of what he’s up to. if you go the albums page, there are some reliable critic’s dsecriptions for each one. i would start with two recordings. one is his quartet album from last year called “reimagining.” it will give you a good picture of his range and approach as a straightahead jazz player; as always with his work, it tends towards the cerebral, but the quartet format and the presence of his chief partner-in-crime rudresh mahanthappa on saxophone helps keep things from getting too remote, and instead produces a really stimulating creative tension.

i would also get “in what language?” (2004) which is the music of a multimedia song-cycle performance that vijay composed with the poet-rapper mike ladd, and which features a passel of other great young musicians and actors. it’s astonishingly good, and completely accessible yet will take you to great heights. i don’t even know what to say about this album anymore, i’ve written about it and about its creators, but i listen to it so often that it’s passed into my bloodstream. to my tastes, this is one of the key compositions of the decade. vijay and mike have a new project of the same sort, it’s called “still life with commentator,” it premiered in the spring at UNC and it’s having its NYC premiere in december at BAM. folks should not miss this under any circumstances.

the two albums i recommended are easy to find in stores or from the usual online providers. hope this helps… enjoy!

You would, wouldn’t you?

You could probably get it from Vijay Iyer’s website, or Amazon. Prasanna’s stuff are here. If you’ve heard A.R. Rahman’s earlier work in Pudhiya Mugam, Prasanna is the one who plays flamenco/carnatic guitar on July Madham.