Wadada Leo Smith and Vijay Iyer Photo: musicworksinternational.com

The Wigmore Hall has announced that Vijay Iyer will become the Wigmore Hall’s fourth Jazz Artist in Residence from January 2017, following in the footsteps of Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman and Christian McBride.

The first concert in his series will be a performance with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith on 6 January 2017. There is an ECM duo release announced for this autumn.

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John Gilhooly, Director of Wigmore Hall, says: “I’ve admired Vijay Iyer’s work for many years now. I attended one his live shows for the first time in Paris last year and was blown away by the immediacy and vitality of his musicianship. After meeting with him the next day, creative sparks began to fly and I knew that he would be a great Jazz Artist in Residence for Wigmore Hall. Vijay is perhaps better known in America and on the continent, but I am thrilled that this gives us the opportunity to introduce him properly to London audiences and that Vijay can do this by collaborating with artists from all over the world. Vijay’s interests in psychology and education are also something that we will explore during the residency. His approach fits with the Hall’s philosophy that ‘everything is learning’ – that our Learning programme and artistic programme are fuelled by one overarching spirit of creative exploration.”

The next event in Christian McBride’s residency is a duo concert with fellow bassist Edgar Meyer on 18th March (DETAILS) and then a duo with Chick Corea on 8th July (not yet available for public booking.