Break Stuff

One of the major emerging figures in the 21st-century jazz, Vijay Iyer follows up 2014’s classical music–oriented *Mutations* with a third album from his excellent working trio (excepting the solo take on Strayhorn’s “Blood Count”). Repurposing some pieces already written for his other projects, Iyer—along with bassist Stephen Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore—moves from the minimalism of “Hood” to a cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Work” to the three pieces inspired by birds. All of it\'s forward-looking, but the combination of the loping rhythms and free-flowing piano on the title track and Coltrane’s “Countdown” is particularly fascinating.

Though Break Stuff is Vijay Iyer's third appearance on ECM in less than year, it is the debut offering from the longstanding trio on the label.