Ethan Iverson – Technically Acceptable 
(Blue Note Records. Album review by Tony Dudley-Evans) 

For his second Blue Note album, pianist Ethan Iverson has produced a varied programme featuring two separate piano trios, a piano-theremin duo, and a solo piano sonata. 

He showcases an original and distinctive approach to the piano-bass-drums trio by combining elements of 1930s and 40s style with a contemporary sound and dynamic.  The first trio, which plays the opening seven tracks, features double bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Kush Abadey. As Iverson says, “When I play a 12-bar blues with Thomas and Kush, it doesn’t sound like 1944 in the slightest. It sounds like 2023.  But at the same time, it is a throwback.”  

On ‘Victory Is Assured’, Morgan and Abadey create a 30s/40s rhythmical feel over which Iverson plays with touches of stride piano.  Iverson also enjoys introducing surprising, yet logical, twists of phrase in his solos.  Similarly, the title track has a touch of Ellingtonian piano, but again with contemporary twists.  Other tracks, such as ‘Who Are You Really?’, ‘It’s Fine To Decline’ and ‘The Way Things Are’ are more contemporary in feel, and build on a solid pulse from bass and drums. ‘The Chicago Style’ is an intriguing track, almost minimalist in its melodic development, but as is often the case, it builds to a ‘maximalist’ climax. 

The interaction between this trio is consistently impressive. Iverson’s duo with Rob Schwimmer on theremin is a very distinctive interpretation of Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’, with Schwimmer’s theremin sounding uncannily like a human voice. 

The second trio features Chilean-born double bassist Simón Willson and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. The two standards they play, ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ and ‘The Feeling is Mutual’, find the piano dominating more than in previous tracks, with a heightened focus on the tune’s melodic development.

Iverson’s ‘Piano Sonata’ closes the album. The first movement, Allegro Moderato, combines stride piano with the twists and turns of the first trio tracks, while in the second movement, Andante, short melodic ideas become the focus. In the final movement, Rondo, Iverson’s playing alternates between melodic phrases and short rhythmic thrashes, developing through various changes of mood, tempo and rhythmic interruptions.

Iverson is “interested in trying to wrangle these almost archaic forms in a modernist way,”  and he has done just that, both successfully and fascinatingly.

 Release date 19 January

Ethan Iverson’s website

from https://londonjazznews.com