Past is Present is ACT’s carefully curated, in-depth exploration of the label’s rich catalog, bringing outstanding recordings back into the spotlight on premium vinyl. These are albums whose relevance has not faded—they still speak with clarity and emotional power. Selected as part of ACT’s musical heritage, each title is being released on vinyl for the first time or as a newly remastered edition, offering the highest possible sound quality while preserving the original artistic vision. Each release is designed as a limited, hand-numbered collector’s edition, created for listeners who appreciate both the sound and the object. The original cover artwork has been preserved and enhanced through refined production: a custom collector’s obi strip, newly written liner notes, specially designed labels, and an individually designed inner sleeve—each element contributing to a cohesive series identity and a premium vinyl experience. solo (2010) is unique in Vijay Iyer’s catalog: his only solo piano recording and a bold departure for an artist who had built his reputation through ensemble interplay in trios. The album appeared just one year after his ACT debut, Historicity (2009), his fourteenth album overall, but the one that marked his international breakthrough: named Pop/Jazz Album of the Year by The New York Times, while his trio was named Emerging Jazz Group of the Year by DownBeat. Given the almost telepathic chemistry within that band, a solo venture was the last thing anyone expected. The working title, Autoscopy, hints at the album’s premise—a quest to view himself from the outside, tracing a line of influences from Monk and Ellington to Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra. The result is an album built on contrasts. It opens with a restrained, unrestrained interpretation of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”—to this day Iyer’s most-streamed track—before abruptly shifting into the sharp angles of Monk and Clarke’s “Epistrophy”, and later into a searching rendition of the 1939 standard “Darn That Dream”. Lyrical one moment, furious the next; minimalist at first, then lush—each track opens a new door into Iyer’s musical universe, always balancing past and present. A landmark now being rediscovered as part of the past is, once again, in the present.
