Press Release Author = Lyrical Knockout Entertainment
Industry = Entertainment
Press Release Summary = Award winning jazz pianist and composer\'s Toronto Visit
Press Release Body = Award winning jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer celebrated with Hip-Hop Activist Raoul Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra) at the final stop of Vijay\'s Canada Summer jazz festival tour, June 30th at the Courthouse Lounge in Downtown Toronto.
Hailed as \"one of the most important jazz pianists of his generation\" and arguably one of history\'s most prominent North American musicians of South Asian heritage, Vijay Iyer was born to Indian immigrants in upstate New York, where he started violin lessons at the age of three and began picking out melodies on his sister\'s piano at age six. Entirely self-taught as a pianist and composer, Vijay\'s choice of a professional musical career came after earning a Masters in physics at age 22, still managing to earn an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in music and cognitive science at U.C. Berkeley in 1998 while his musical accomplishments multiplied.
Some of these milestones include ten albums to his name including a debut CD described as \"one of the best albums of 1996\" and three acclaimed CD\'s released as part of his current multi-album deal with the legendary Savoy Jazz record label. In addition to over ten years of performing as part of the international music community at festivals and concerts across Europe, Asia and Australia, Vijay Iyer\'s participation in the North American music scene has included critically acclaimed performances ranging from The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C to Carnegie Hall in his home of New York.
Besides lecturing and publishing on a range of topics including cognitive science, improvisation, and performance studies as Dr. Vijay Iyer, the celebrated jazz artist has also collaborated on a variety of hip-hop and spoken word themed projects with renowned artists Dead Prez and Mike Ladd among others.
For more details about Vijay Iyer visit his Vijay-Iyer.com web site.
2012
