The Transitory Poems
On a sheet, two rectangles uneven in size sit vertically touching each other; one metallic silver on the left, and one bronze on the right. Small indentations are visible between the rectangles. The album name, artists and venue's names are printed on the silver rectangle, and the record label wordmark is printed on the bronze rectangle.
Live album by
Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn
ReleasedMarch 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)
RecordedMarch 12, 2018
VenueFranz Liszt Academy of Music
Budapest, Hungary
GenreJazz
Length73:57
LabelECM 2644
ProducerManfred Eicher
Craig Taborn chronology
Octopus
(2018)		 The Transitory Poems
(2019)		 Golden Valley Is Now
(2019)
Vijay Iyer chronology
Far from Over
(2017)		 The Transitory Poems
(2018)		 Uneasy
(2021)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[1]
AllMusic[2]
Financial Times[3]
Jazz Journal[4]
Jazzwise[5]
Pitchfork7.5/10[6]
PopMatters7/10[7]
Tom HullB+[8]

The Transitory Poems is a live album by pianists Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn recorded at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest on March 12, 2018 and released on ECM a year later.[9][10]

Background

The duo had previously played together in Roscoe Mitchell's Note Factory in 2002 on Song for My Sister.[1] The Transitory Poems consists of eight tracks offered as tributes to formative influences including pianists Cecil Taylor, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Geri Allen, and the painter and sculptor Jack Whitten.[11]

Reception

Dan McClenaghan of All About Jazz stated: "The music's in the air, and then it's gone. The disc's title seems to nod to this sentiment. The music itself does, too. Instant composing, spontaneous arrangements, a gorgeous fluidity of ideas mutating in the moment with an enchanting and lovely spaciousness. And then it's gone, unless somebody records it... The Transitory Poems sounds like two artists colluding in a search for solutions to beautiful mysteries, completely in the moment. That there are no solutions is beside the point. It is the search, the journey that counts."[1]

Matthew Kassel of Pitchfork wrote, "They both operate in what might be described as the avant-garde. But they’re also different musicians. Iyer is mathematical at the keyboard, with a precise, percussive touch, while Taborn, who is more of a figurative thinker, gets by on suggestion and metaphor. His sound is ruminative and spacious... Their styles mesh so well that it can be difficult to distinguish one set of hands from the other, as though a four-armed being had taken a seat at the piano and decided to play for an hour and a quarter."[6]

Simon Adams of Jazz Journal commented, "Throughout, the two pianists mesh their lines almost imperceptibly, dovetailing their rhythms and embellishing melodic details but always giving the other room to breathe. In places, their music can be austere, even daunting, but throughout there is an underlying empathetic warmth and sometimes tenderness. For two quite different stylists to have a produced a set of such unified coherence is a remarkable achievement. Full marks and many stars all round."[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn except as noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Life Line (Seven Tensions)" 13:02
2."Sensorium" 4:17
3."Kairòs" 8:56
4."S.H.A.R.D.S." 9:11
5."Shake Down" 6:40
6."Clear Monolith" 10:46
7."Luminous Brew" 8:17
8."Meshwork / Libation / When Kabuya Dances"
12:48
Total length:63:57

Charts

Chart Peak
position
US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[12] 9

References

  1. 1 2 3 McClenaghan, Dan (March 7, 2019). "Vijay Iyer And Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". All About Jazz. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Vijay Iyer / Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  3. ↑ Hobart, Mike (5 April 2019). "Vijay Iyer & Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems — light-touch modernism meets percussive thrust". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Adams, Simon (26 June 2019). "Vijay Iyer / Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". Jazz Journal. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Le Gendre, Kevin (May 2019). "Review Search". Jazzwise. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  6. 1 2 Kassel, Matthew. "Vijay Iyer / Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  7. ↑ Layman, Will (28 March 2019). "Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn Continue Their Explorations on 'The Transitory Poems', PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Hull, Tom. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Vijay Iyer". tomhull.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". Roulette Intermedium. March 12, 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Woodard, Josef (May 2019). "Vijay Iyer & Craig Taborn: Building Something Majestic". DownBeat. Vol. 86, no. 5. p. 37.
  11. ↑ "Vijay Iyer / Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems". Rough Trade. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  12. ↑ "Craig Taborn Chart History (Top Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
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