In What Language?

by Vijay Iyer, Mike Ladd

Overview

Inspired by the experience of an Iranian filmmaker wrongly detained by INS officials at JFK airport in New York, this epic work explores life through the microcosm of the airport -- a place of arrival and departure, of being an alien or leaving one's citizenship behind. Poet/hip-hop man Mike Ladd has done a superb job with the lyrics, polished by real little monologues that examine all aspects of the problem -- and it's a problem that often leaves travelers dehumanized. Keyboard player Vijay Iyer gives tone and color to all this in his compositions, and the two together become more than a sum of their parts. It's not an easy album to listen to -- often harrowing, as in "Innana After Baghdad" or "Terminal City" -- but more than repays the investment of ears and time. Is it jazz? Not really. It falls outside category -- as it should, given the subject matter involved. At first it can sound simplistic, but it soon becomes apparent that the textures and depths of the music only reveal themselves gradually, such as with "Asylum." Written originally to be performed on-stage in a theatrical setting, it transfers well to a purely recorded medium, dense and demanding, but ultimately satisfying, inasmuch as it leaves the listener full of questions and less certain about the world. ~ Chris Nickson

Product Details

Release Date:	10/21/2003
Label:	Pi Recordings
UPC:	0808713000924
Rank:	113499

Tracks

1. The Color of My Circumference I
2. The Density of the 19th Century
3. Terminal City
4. Rentals
5. Security
6. DeGaulle
7. TLC
8. Three Lotto Stories
9. The Color of My Circumference II
10. Iraqi Businessman
11. Taking Back the Airplane
12. The Color of My Circumference III
13. Innana After Baghdad
14. In What Language
15. Asylum
16. The Color of My Circumference IV
17. Plastic Bag

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Vijay Iyer   Primary Artist,Piano,Keyboards,Electronics
Mike Ladd   Primary Artist,Electronics,Vocals
Ajay Naidu   Voices
Trevor Holder   Drums
Ambrose Akinmusire   Trumpet
Dana Leong   Flugelhorn,Trombone,Cello
Latasha Natasha Diggs   Electronics,Vocals
Stephan Crump   Bass
Liberty Ellman   Guitar

Technical Credits

Scotty Hard   Audio Production,Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Pooja Bakri   Photography
Rachel Cooper   Photography
Seth Rosner   Executive Producer
Fred Ones   Engineer
Latasha Natasha Diggs   Composer
Yulun Wang   Associate Producer
Mike Ladd   Photography,Liner Notes,Producer,Mixing,Composer
Vijay Iyer   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Liner Notes