Love In Exile is presented by three world-class musicians forging a singular voice that takes their distinct backgrounds and vast histories of collaboration to explore one-of-a-kind performances defined by a sense of timeless beauty and sudden surprise alike. This newly released album by Verve Records creates lush, haunting collaborative soundscapes of meditation and yearning. NPR described the project as a "manifestation is musical telepathy". Arooj Aftab is a Grammy award winning singer, composer, and producer working in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz, minimalism, and Urdu poetry. She is a 2023 United States Artists Fellow and a recipient of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music. Vijay Iyer is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. Shahzad Ismaily’s sensitivity and technical acumen has made him a legend, recording and touring with musicians like Beth Orton, Yoko Ono, Feist, and many others.
Kalia Vandever is an American trombonist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by her sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice. She leans into the challenges of the instrument and allows patience and melody to guide her process.
In her compositional practice, Kalia draws from her love of songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. She released her debut ensemble album In Bloom in 2019 which has been described as “the rise of an exciting voice for the music” (Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz Magazine). Her sophomore album, Regrowth released in May, 2022 on New Amsterdam Records and “confirms her strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view.” (Nate Chinen, WBGO Jazz). Her debut solo album, We Fell In Turn featuring her works for trombone, voice and electronics released on AKP Records in March, 2023.
photograph by Bao Ngo.