Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith - Defiant Life (2025)

Anchored in the idea that, despite all obstacles, the human experience casts a net of possibilities, Defiant Life - Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith's second duo recording for ECM - proves a profound meditation on the human condition and both the suffering and resilience it entails. Recorded within two days at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo, Defiant Life was produced by Manfred Eicher. "This recording session was conditioned by our ongoing sorrow and outrage over the past year's cruelties, but also by our faith in human possibility." - Vijay Iyer

Wadada Leo Smith - Trumpet
Vijay Iyer - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electronics