Vijay Iyer is given The New Yorker’s Imprimatur

From its lofty height as arbiter of high-class culture, The New Yorker occasionally reaches down to profile someone from the popular arts. That seems to be the focus of Alec Wilkinson’s article on pianist Vijay Iyer. Newsworthy because he’s Asian-American not White or Black, Iyer who is described as often mistaken “for an accountant”, has a PhD, teaches at Harvard and is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s artist-in-residence. Besides the establishment credentials advanced, at least there is some mention in the story of his association with the radical Asian Improv group in California, his admiration for Thelonious Monk’s playing, his mentoring by saxophonist Steve Coleman and electronic musician David Wessel, and his on-going musical relationship with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, whose eclecticism defies standardization.