****(*) DOWNBEAT Dec. 2003, Glenn Astarita

****AMG

Recorded May/June 2003.

With
Vijay Iyer (p),
Mike Ladd (composition),
Liberty Ellman (g),
Stephen Crump,
Trevor Holder,
Allison Easter.

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. TCOMC II, 10. Iraqi Businessman, 11. Taking Back the Airplane, 12. TCOMC III, 13. Innana After Baghdad, 14. In What Language, 15. Asylum, 16. The Color of My Circumference IV, 17. Plastic Bag. Recorded: New York, May 2 & Jun 2003 (studio).
Iyer draws upon his East Indian heritage to coincide with a genre-hopping perspective throughout the body of his compositions. "though its points of origin are far from the mainstream of either hip-hop or jazz, let's count it as a breakthrough hip-hop-jazz fusion. Because if we do, it's one of the smartest I've heard, and one of the few that really works."New York Times