Ethan Iverson - Technically Acceptable

February 5, 2024

Label: Blue Note Records, 2024

Personnel - Ethan Iverson: piano; Thomas Morgan: bass; Simón Wilson: bass; Kush Abadey: drums; Vinnie Sperrazza: drums.

The second Blue Note output by pianist and composer Ethan Iverson, titled Technically Acceptable, showcases his artistry in two exhilarating trios alongside emerging talents. Devotees of Iverson's music are well aware of his ability to infuse tradition with a modern touch, whether crafting an original composition or interpreting a classic standard. His style here, drawing from various epochs in jazz history, demonstrates a renewed assurance in dealing with rich melodies and sublime harmonies.

The first seven tracks feature bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Kush Abadey. The trio starts with the enticing “Conundrum”, an introductory bait with firm rhythmic accentuation, ample harmonic power, uplifting melody, and some classical nuances towards the conclusion. As a Brubeck-inspired piece, “Victory is Assured (Alla Breve)” introduces a rare moment of levity, bracing the listeners for an empathetic rhythmic quality that evokes Kansas City blues.

“Technically Acceptable”, a soulfully swinging hard-bop-infused composition, echoes in the pocket with the coolest of tempos. Here, Iverson’s unequivocal lines wiggle joyously over the rhythm changes in the form of fluid phrases and motifs. “The Way Things Are”, at some point, recalls “I Get a Kick Out of You”, while “It’s Fine to Decline” sees the trio switching gears as they opt for a lilting avant-garde setting that echoes the pianistic sensibilities of Jaki Byard, Mal Waldron, and Herbie Nichols.

The collaboration with bassist Simón Wilson and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza yields exceptional results, especially evident in two covers: a stripped-down, captivating rendition of “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, and a nuanced, epic interpretation of Monk's “Round Midnight”, featuring an impressive theremin melody, courtesy of pianist Rob Schwimmer. You’ll find ethereal moments of spectacular tonal range on this one.

The album concludes with a solo three-movement piano sonata. It’s an outstanding through-composed work with inventive etudes in style, showing off Iverson’s mastery on the keyboard. “Piano Sonata: Allegro Moderato” is audacious in tempo and imbued with bluesy chops and stride jazz; “Piano Sonata: Andante” is delicately crafted and confidently paced; while “Piano Sonata: Rondo” presents a classical conception but with a heap of surprising twists.

Iverson's adept navigation of various stylistic approaches and transitions within the program reinforces his status as a strong-willed artist whose musicality has only deepened over time. The album's significance lies in his fascinating blend of discipline and freedom.

Favorite Tracks:
06 - It’s Fine to Decline ► 09 - Round Midnight ► 11 - Piano Sonata: Allegro Moderato

Ethan Iverson - Every Note is True

February 7, 2022

Label: Blue Note Records, 2022

Personnel - Ethan Iverson: piano; Larry Grenadier: bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

On his Blue Note debut recording, the pianist/composer Ethan Iverson hooks up with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette, forming a pliant yet cohesive trio that navigates genres and ambiances with a penchant for tradition. Still, they have the ability to give them enough fresh context to blossom and surprise. Iverson and the legendary drummer recorded together for the very first time, in opposition to Grenadier, who played on Costumes Are Mandatory, a quartet album from 2013 that also featured the late saxophonist Lee Konitz and the drummer Jorgy Rossy.

Every Note is True opens with the title track, making the song format very present through the 44-voice virtual choir that sings lyrics penned by the pianist's wife, Sarah Demings. The trio proceeds with “The Eternal Verities” in which classical influences are particularly pronounced. This piece, inspired by Iverson’s mother-in-law, also has a popified impressionism contributing to it.

Flawlessly articulated, “She Won’t Forget Me” also embraces the pop music cannon, taking us to the musical universe of The Bad Plus, a groundbreaking trio of which Iverson was a member from 2000 to 2017. We can hear the pianist play precise bass notes with the left hand and, with his right, extract clear melodies from the higher registers of the keyboard. During the gently propulsive waltz “For Ellen Raskin”, he pays tribute to the American children’s writer and illustrator in the title. This song sails smoothly, concluding with bowed bass and melodic piano playing. “Goodness Knows” brings a happy lyricism to the setting while infusing a litany of rhythmic figures and a swinging bopish intonation that inspires Grenadier to a groove-laden statement. The piece ends with a conclusively unfurling piano solo.

A sense of rapture builds from track to track, and both “Merely Improbable” and “Praise the Travel” convey so much enjoyment. Whereas the former evokes Duke Ellington by encapsulating motivic articulations on the piano, crisply accentuated drumming, and bass lines that elegantly swing along, the latter is a blues infusion with tinges of gospel, spiritual jazz, and classical aromas. The album includes another fine blues, “At the Bells and Motley”, but my favorite piece is DeJohnette’s “Blue”, a gorgeous, emotionally effective rendition of the drummer's 1978 composition, here narrated with true melody set against cascading notes and imminent chordal foreplay.

Tastefully and masterfully executed, Every Note is True is a complete experience; a product of a mature artistic vision over an extended segment of the jazz spectrum.

Favorite Tracks:
05 - Blue ► 06 - Goodness Knows ► 08 - Merely Improbable

Ethan Iverson - Bud Powell in the 21st Century

January 19, 2021

Label: Sunnyside Records, 2021

Personnel - Ethan Iverson: piano; Ingrid Jensen: trumpet; Dayna Stephens: tenor saxophone; Ben Street: bass; Lewis Nash: drums + Umbria Jazz Orchestra

The imaginative pianist/composer/arranger Ethan Iverson celebrates the music of Bud Powell, a leading figure in the development of bebop and one of the greatest jazz pianists of all times, through a big band work recorded live at the 26th edition of Umbria Jazz Winter in 2018. In addition to the Umbria Jazz Orchestra, the suite features a core quintet of renowned first-call jazz musicians - trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Dayna Stephens, bassist Ben Street, drummer Lewis Nash and Iverson himself - in an attempt to evoke the only session recorded by Powell to include horns (1949).

In terms of arrangements, the inspiration came from Stravinsky, Carla Bley, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, in a program of 16 tracks - eight by Iverson, seven by Powell and Thelonious Monk’s “52nd Street”.

The lyrical melodic intricacies and flying chordal scents of a number of Powell’s hits are executed with incredible power - “Celia” is given a lush arrangement with luminous hard-bop flair and where sax and trumpet float over the automatic rhythmic interlock of Street and Nash; the 1949 composition “Tempus Fugit” is delivered with orchestral punch, announced by the brilliancy of Nash’s drumming and featuring searing solos from Iverson and Jensen; “Bouncing With Bud” leisurely swings after an authoritative sax/trumpet statement in unison; and the defiant swagger of “Wail” finds purpose in a faster tempo and brisker workout.

Iverson’s “Bud Powell in the 21st Century” is split into two parts, the first of which is a chorale expressed with reasonable linearity, and the second, a swinging stream that includes not only Powell’s nimble piano improvisation over “Cherokee” but also an explicit tenor avowal of passionate post-bop delivered by Stephens, with layered contrapuntal horn fills as stereo reinforcements. Another composition by the bandleader, “Nobile Paradiso”, also employs Powell’s thoughts on “All The Things You Are”, presenting no clutter of any kind as it straddles between relaxation and buoyancy. There are also five Iverson-penned ‘simple spells’ intercalated throughout, and the last of them serves to give notice of “I’ll Keep Loving You”, where Giovanni Hoffer’s French horn comes to the fore.

The rhythmic eccentricity of the Latin-soaked “Un Poco Loco”, one of Powell’s most cherished pieces, brings a sensational closure to a record that, sealed with Iverson’s unique creativity, opens up a glorious new phase in his career.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Bud Powell in the 21st Century, Part 2: Continuity ► 03 - Celia ► 16 - Un Poco Loco

Ethan Iverson Quartet - Common Practice

September 16, 2019

Label: ECM Records, 2019

Personnel - Tom Harrell: trumpet; Ethan Iverson: piano; Ben Street: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.

Leading a simpatico new quartet, pianist/composer Ethan Iversen channels energies to a set of charming renditions of Great American Songbook cornerstones alongside two originals, whose bluesy nature goes perfectly well with the rest of the material. While teaming up with bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric McPherson in the rhythm section, the pianist didn’t hide his appreciation for having ace trumpeter Tom Harrell spearheading the melodic department.

Common Practice is a heartfelt tribute to New York's straight-ahead jazz. Iversen and his peers stroll through the polished surfaces of jazz standards, combining the mastery of fundamentals with an openness to embrace new textures and harmonic directions. Recorded at the mythical The Village Vanguard, the album is dedicated to that venue’s former guardian, Lorraine Gordon, who died last year at the age of 95.

“Wee”, for example, conjures up that same festive, tongue-in-cheek vibe that characterized Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas”. The effusive Caribbean flavor announced by McPherson and Street becomes triumphantly swinging at the time that Harrell blows with intelligible hard-bop erudition, leaving space between phrases. Picking up where the trumpeter left off, Iversen articulates his speech with a mix of liveliness and insouciance before conceding the spotlight to McPherson, who expresses all the syllables of his solo with a clear pronunciation. This number has that pocket you can dance to.

If “Out of Nowhere” doesn’t really push the envelope, despite the galloping rhythmic advances that follow Street’s sharp-witted improvisation, then “All The Things You Are” attracts our attention through a rushing tempo and dazzling statements from trumpet and piano. The trumpeter combines the joy of Clifford Brown with the playfulness of Louis Armstrong, while the pianist explores phrase rhythms piked by some devious resolutions. This is even more explicit on Ellington’s “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”, where he sprays colorful chord clusters and evinces an exceptional quality in the intervallic and contrapuntal activities. Harrell also soars on trumpet, twisting the melody with clever note replacements, which are sometimes prolonged for a surprising effect. While here he incorporates a discernible melodic fragment of “Summertime”, on “I Remember You”, he clearly salutes Charlie Parker.

“Philadelphia Creamer” and “Jed From Teaneck” are 12-bar blues by Iverson. The emotions continue to flow through aesthetically clean and pleasant choruses that never feel excessive. However, their emotional depth feels a bit restricted when compared with glorious ballads such as “The Man I Love” and “I Can’t Get Started”. The former, a real stunner, highlights Iversen’s brilliant piano work. At the outset, he invents a highly appealing intro that draws you in, and then brings a sweet languidness to his improvisation, built over subdued yet colorful brushwork and spacious bass measures.

To better clarify our readers, what he have here is more than simply straight-ahead readings of popular songs and blues. There are old pieces sounding new again. Thus, with an obvious bind with tradition, the album is never less than stirring and satisfying.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - The Man I Love ► 03 - Wee ► 10 - I’m Getting Sentimental Over You

Mark Turner / Ethan Iverson - Temporary Kings

August 30, 2018

Label: ECM, 2018

Personnel - Mark Turner: tenor saxophone; Ethan Iverson: piano.

Tenorist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson, two resplendent titans of the current jazz scene, join forces for an intimate outing. Temporary Kings aggregates nine compositions - six by Iverson, two by Turner and one by Warne Marsh - that, besides bristling with competence, allow for space, reflection, and expansion. Ten years after meeting for the first time in New York, the two distinguished players and members of the Billy Hart Quartet release their first duo album on the ECM label, opening with the introspective wistfulness of Iverson’s “Lugano”, whose melodic traits recall “Autumn in New York”. Turner’s ethereal contribution tints everything with a celestial blue, while Iverson, a marvelous accompanist, creates intriguing textures, contributing for the permeation of yellow sun rays through the scattered soft clouds. The title refers to the Swiss city where the album was recorded.

The title track offers great contrapuntal sections with folk-like melodies running on top of stunning chords colored with contrasting tonalities. Iverson’s initially spacious solitary incursion is transformed in patterns of pointillistic notes as soon as Turner starts to explore unanticipated melodic trajectories, which continue in a brisker way on the luminous “Turner’s Chamber of Unlikely Delights”. Composed by Iverson, this chamber piece doesn’t hide jazz, classical, and even pop influences, evoking at times the successful aesthetic of Marsh/Tristano. However, a bona fide tribute to these two musicians arrives with a strong swinging feel on Marsh’s “Dixie’s Dilemma”, a bop-derived study with the same harmonic progression of “All The Things You Are”, frank bluesy lines, and propelled by Iverson’s nimble bass conduction on the left side.

The game of timbres becomes particularly noticeable on the final section of “Unclaimed Freight”, a blues with a scent of third stream, whose theme blossoms through repetitive phrases expressed in unison.

Delivered with a cool, quiet precision, “Yesterday’s Bouquet” is a lyrical ballad that sounds more ambiguous than Strayhorn’s “Lush Life”, despite some similarities between them. Iverson digs it alone, finding rich sonic palettes within an interesting arrangement.

Turner’s “Myron’s World” kicks off with a radiating saxophone introduction that shines further with the emergence of the pianist’s intuitive steps. Here, the mood comes closer to the snug post-bop of Kenny Wheeler/John Taylor, in a mix of charm and complexity.

The 3/4 melancholy of “Seven Points” is another product of Turner’s mind, closing out the record with a dreamy ambiance, equally graceful and intriguing.

Temporary Kings is a guileless jazz session whose bi-directional moves converge and diverge with an astounding conviction.