Ethan Iverson Feature – Downbeat

Midway into his career, pianist Ethan Iverson has experienced a universe of multifaceted artistry and in many collegial opinions has become a restless visionary. verson continues to evolve as a deep, enlight- I got to play duos with Ron Carter, whose tradi- ened, good-humored artist who has excelled tion I feel myself in, and Miranda Cuckson, one in a variety of musical settings—from com- of the best new music violinists in New York, who Iposing formal classical scores, to being the musi- is also part of my tradition. I was watering my cal composer/arranger for choreographer Mark garden in an unbelievable way with these two Morris, to breaking jazz rules in Te Bad Plus heavyweights.” (the trio he co-founded in 2000 and depart- Iverson’s new album is Temporary Kings ed from in 2017). Iverson also teaches at New (ECM), a remarkable duo project with tenor sax- England Conservatory, where he’s been on fac- ophonist Mark Turner. On the recording, the pair ulty since 2016. And he has gained considerable dives into a conversational, chamber-jazz setting esteem as a prose writer, thanks to his contribu- with mysteries, musings and motif-bending orig- tions to Te New Yorker and his widely read blog, inals (six by Iverson, two by Turner). Tey give a Do the Math. nod to the Lennie Tristano-Warne Marsh school Iverson stands as a passionate dynamo at the of cool with a playful fight through Marsh’s crossroads of jazz and classical music. “To move “Dixie’s Dilemma” (which is based on the chang- the music forward, you have to think about the es to Jerome Kern’s “All Te Tings You Are”). greatest jazz and the greatest classical music,” Te two artists have a long history of collabora- he said in his Brooklyn apartment, seated in tion. Most notably, they served as the solo pow- front of a large painting by his father depicting erhouses in drummer Billy Hart’s quartet with the house in which he grew up, during formative bassist Ben Street starting in 2005, later appear- years spent near the border of Minnesota and ing on Hart’s ECM albums All Our Reasons Wisconsin. “In back-to-back weekends recently, (2012) and One Is Te Other (2014). 44 DOWNBEAT OCTOBER 2018 ©ROBERT LEWIS/ECM RECORDS OCTOBER 2018 DOWNBEAT 45 somewhat ironic that he currently has a teaching position at NEC. Before he was ofered the job, the school had invited Iverson to give a lecture on stride piano, during which he interspersed his own playing with recordings by artists like Mary Lou Williams, James P. Johnson and Art Tatum. “I talked about the base of the music, stuf ©ROBERT LEWIS/ECM RECORDS that was very old,” Iverson recalled. “Tere’s a way of talking about jazz piano where you start with Bill Evans and everything that happened afer that. But when I was in my late teens and early 20s, what set me apart from my peers was my interest in early jazz. To some people, this is just corny music and why do that? But people like Earl Hines had such technical competence with the sheer number of notes he was shovel- ing around on the instrument that was actual- ly greater than most modern pianists. Plus, they Iverson (left) and Mark Turner are members of could play for dances. How many modern jazz Billy Hart’s band in addition to collaborating on Temporary Kings. pianists can sit and play for a dance?” Iverson meets seven times with seven students In a recent phone conversation, Turner said ation, and he’s not doing it in an aggressive way. each semester. “It’s a real joy to see people improve that the duo album is rooted in the Hart connec- He doesn’t care about commercial success and when they do stuf I tell them to,” he said. “Tat’s tion. “One thing was clear to Ethan and me in doesn’t put a package together to make himself a unique pleasure I never had before. I teach them wanting to play with Billy was an interest in older famous. It’s really an honor to play with someone that jazz is a blend of two traditions: European music, traditional music, folklore, and how that who has that level of purity.” harmony and African rhythm. Tere are other informs the music of the present,” he said. “Billy “Ethan is iconic,” Turner said. “Tere’s no factors, but that’s the basic mix. Te European exemplifes that—the modern and the present. one like him. He’s a true individual. Te main harmony comes naturally to piano players, but the He embodies what we want to be. Ethan brought thing he has is his touch, and I like his comping, African side is harder to talk about.” up the idea to do this album. Tere wasn’t any especially with his note choices and voicings.” When Iverson was scrounging gigs in New back-and-forth. It’s just a continuation of our Iverson took piano lessons up to the 7th York in the ’90s, he became associated with Mark relationship within Billy’s band.” grade, but decided to quit when he became con- Morris, who brought him aboard as the musical Temporary Kings was recorded last year at the cerned that he wouldn’t ultimately get to his director for his dance troupe. Morris is humor- RSI studio in Lugano, Switzerland. “It’s fun to passion: jazz by the likes of Count Basie and ously frank in talking about his frst experiences play free with Mark, because he has perfect pitch; Telonious Monk. “I could read music very well,” with Iverson when he was in his twenties: “Ethan he can hear what I’m doing.” Iverson said. “I don’t he said, then laughed. “In fact, I’m a famous was clueless and completely out of his realm. He have perfect pitch. But his mind is so acute, he sight-reader today. But I got this message that played well, but was green. He showed up with can always do things that are a little less obvious, a teacher wasn’t going to help me with jazz. In enthusiasm, but he wasn’t very sophisticated. ... whereas I can be too obvious, because I’m seeking fact, maybe it could harm me. It’s like the Mary But he was very open-minded.” Iverson spent clarity.” He paused and added, “I’m willing to sac- Lou Williams jazz tree, where she says that clas- fve years with Morris, frequently on the road. rifce jazz hipness for clarity.” sical studies don’t help. Tere are many verdant He learned a phenomenal amount about classi- On the asymmetrical title track—named branches on the tree, but the classical branch, cal music, but many of his tasks were function- afer the 1973 novel in Anthony Powell’s 12-vol- with its études and books, is a dead branch. Paul al, not creative. ume epic, A Dance To Te Music Of Time— Bley said that if you go too far down the classical “It was stuf that needed to happen,” the pia- Turner sings while Iverson swoops to create fow path, you won’t fgure out how to play jazz. Te nist said. “Mark is the perfect example of using a and sonic power. Iverson said that the book met- irony is that no one knew more about European mixture of high and low art. It hits you in your aphorically nods to the old days when there were classical music than he did, and I have become gut, as well as your brain.” kings who served for a brief period and then, at pretty expert at it, too.” As he was closing in on 30, Iverson realized the end of their reigns, were executed. “It’s like our Iverson enrolled at New York University in he had to devote himself to playing jazz again. “I time recording in Lugano,” he said. “We record in 1991 to study jazz, but he only lasted two years. told Mark, I love you, but I’ve got to go,” he said. this fancy studio with [ECM’s] Manfred Eicher, Among his instructors was Jim McNeely. “Te "As if I had arranged it, within a month Te Bad and then we come back to Brooklyn. Mark’s tak- most important part of [McNeely’s] classes was Plus hit, played the Village Vanguard and got a ing his kids to school, and I’m playing for a dance when he told stories about playing with Sonny record deal with Columbia. Without that mix class. So, we were temporary kings.” Stitt and Tad Jones and others,” Iverson said. “I of high and low art I learned from Mark, I don’t Key to the success of the recording sessions know he showed me some stuf on the piano, but think I could have played Te Bad Plus music.” was the artists’ mutual admiration. “I have tre- I think the essence of jazz is in those stories. Tat’s Afer Iverson lef Morris’ employ, the two mendous respect for Mark in every dimension,” the way I think jazz works as a curriculum.” continued their friendship, with the choreogra- Iverson explained. “I listen to Mark, not just Iverson went on to take private lessons with pher marveling at shows he saw Iverson perform musically, but what he says to me as a person. It’s Fred Hersch, who sent him to classical teach- in various settings, including a tango band and a like when he told me that it takes us longer to be er Sophia Rosof and her colleague Robert solo piece, “Easy Win,” for John Heginbotham’s great now because there is so much more to learn.

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