Los Angeles: US-based Indian jazz pianist Vijay Iyer lost the Grammy for best jazz instrumental album, individual or group at the 53rd edition of the awards.
Iyer along with his team members bassist Stephen Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore, popularly known as Vijay Iyer Trio, were nominated for their album 'Historicity', but lost out to James Moody (Moody 4B) at the gala event at the Staples Center, Los Angeles on Sunday night.
The other nominations included John Beasley (Positootly!), Clayton Brothers (The New Song And Dance), and Danilo Perez (Providencia).
"Historicity" is Iyer's 13th album and has already won many accolades. It was ranked number one jazz album of 2009 by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio.
Born and brought up in New York City, Iyer is from the family of Tamil immigrants who moved to the US in 1960s. He has been learning music from the age of three. Trained in the Western classical, he began playing the piano by ear in his childhood, and has mostly learned the instrument on his own.
He studied science and joined the PhD programme in physics at the University of California, Berkley. However, he pursued his jazz practice interests side by side.
Right now he is a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, the New York University, the School for Improvisational Music as well as The New School.
Over the years, Iyer has worked with other Indian musicians, including Karsh Kale, Tavleen Singh, Suphla, Trichy Sankaran and Umayalpuram K Sivaraman.
Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon loses Grammy
US-based Indian corporate honcho and classical singer Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon lost out on the Grammy for the best contemporary world music album for 'Om Namo Narayanaya: Soul Call'.
Tandon lost out on the prestigious award to Bela Fleck (Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks). The other nominations included Bebel Gilberto (All In One), Angelique Kidjo (ÕŸÖ) and Sergio Mendes (Bom Tempo) at a glittering ceremony Sunday night.
Her Grammy-nominated album features Sanskrit chants and combines traditional Indian sounds such as sarod, sitar, and esraj with the Western instruments such as the piano, the electric bass and the classical guitar.
While the vocals are given by her, the music has been composed by sarod player Tejendra Narayan Majumdar with assistance from Snehasish Mojumder, the mandolin player.
An Indian Institute of Management (IIM) alumna, Tandon was born and brought up in Chennai and is sister of PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. She herself worked with McKinsey and Company for 11 years.
Apart from being a singer, Tandon is also the trustee of New York University and American India Foundation. She serves on the Board of Overseers at the NYU Stern School of Business, where she is also Executive-in-Residence.
She lives in New York City with her husband Ranjan, founder and president of an investment firm, and their daughter Lita.
Last year, music maestro AR Rahman did the country proud by winning two Grammy gongs for Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Sitar expert Ravi Shankar and tabla great Zakir Hussain are also among the Indians that have brought Grammy home.
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