Historicity (Bonus Track Edition)

The pianist Vijay Iyer has played in and led a number of groups but it’s always great to hear him get down to business with his trio (an outfit that includes bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore) which creates a lushly textured musical world. Historicity includes four Iyer originals, “Helix,” “Trident:2010,” “Segment for Sentiment #2,” and the title cut, and six cover versions that draw from a wide range of sources. A mysterious take on Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “Somewhere” is followed by a fine cover of “Galang” by the hiphop artist known as M.I.A. Then Iyer tackles “Smoke Stack,” a piece by one of jazz’s greatest composers, Andrew Hill, before moving on to Stevie Wonder’s “Big Brother,” which features Gilmore’s unusual rhythmic undertow. Next up is a cover of “Dogon A.D.,” an avant jazz classic from the 1970s written by the saxophonist Julius Hemphill. There’s also a winning take on organist Ronnie Foster’s “Mystic Brew,” a Miles Davis-flavored tune that was once sampled by A Tribe Called Quest. Amazingly, Historicity hangs together beautifully: it’s one of 2009’s gems.