American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer has already played in Rotterdam as part of a duo and with a quartet. This time the piano virtuoso will perform at the festival with a trio. Iyer, who grew up in New York, is the child of Indian Tamil parents. He was considered a musical prodigy at a young age, playing the violin at age 3. But it was only in his teens that the piano came into his life. And it is the piano that has taken center stage in his much-praised career. One of his specialties is not thinking in limitations. This great courage can also be heard on his most recent album, Break Stuff. On it, Iyer explores and pushes boundaries, without losing sight of the more accessible roots of jazz music. Iyer, who enjoys playing around with Asian rhythms, not only perform his own compositions on this album, he and his trio also dare to play impressive interpretations of the music of legends like Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane.
