Two albums that I’ve been procrastinating over for a few months, Vijay Iyer’s Historicity and Ben Allison’s Think Free has been topping nearly all the noteworthy jazz lists. I was waiting for something intelligent and inspirational to say about both albums but frankly after all these years I think I’m only valuable as a spotter and not a reviewer, and I can only write on jazz by taking cues from allaboutjazz etc. So it’s about time to end the anxiety of seeing this on my todolist everyday by giving you a few pointers.

Vijay is one of the new superstars of the piano, If you’re into progressive jazz you already know that from his body of work with Steve Lehman, Tyshawn Sorey and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Historicity is the effort of a piano trio with Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums, but it’s not a standard piano jazz album. I’d rather play cheap and call it math jazz or something. One of the densest albums that passed through our speakers this year. The new shape of jazz to come?

All the best jazz groups, and certainly the best piano trios, have managed this trick. They honor the past directly, but they also honor the past by imposing a highly individual personality on classic songs. With Historicity, the Vijay Iyer Trio emerges as another modern jazz trio that has found a fresh vision in an old form. Like Robert Glasper and Jason Moran, to name just two on the current scene, Vijay Iyer is refracting jazz piano in a new way, no longer merely pushing the boundaries of harmonic freedom, but altering the core with genuine changes to the groove. Popmatters