BIX TOP ACT: Ethan Iverson Trio

Pianist and composer Ethan Iverson has announced the January 19th release of his second Blue Note album, Technically Acceptable, a wide-ranging new project full of twists and turns with Iverson at the helm of two different trios.

Featuring the bass/drums teams of Thomas Morgan/ Kush Abadey and Simon Willson/Vinnie Sperrazza playing a series of impressive new originals as well as unique new versions of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "Round Midnight" by Thelonious Monk, the latter featuring Rob Schwimmer on theremin. The album ends with the recorded premiere of Iverson's Piano Sonata, which is given a brilliant performance by Iverson himself.

"I'm interested in trying to process these almost archaic forms in a modernist way," says Iverson. "When I play a 12-bar blues with Thomas and Kush, it doesn't sound like 1944 at all. It sounds like 2023. At the same time, it's also a serious throwback. That's where I connect with someone like Jaki Byard, who could play the latest creative music with Eric Dolphy or play behind a blues singer and feel completely at ease. And when he played solo or trio, it all came out at once."

The history-spanning wealth of influences and eras that Iverson has explored as a pianist, composer and critic comes through in "Technically Acceptable" in often surprising and delightful ways. In the past, Iverson has used his leader appointments to connect with and learn from elders like Billy Hart and Jack DeJohnette. The latter was featured on Iverson's Blue Note debut "Every Note Is True" from 2022. Here he works exclusively with younger musicians who find ample room for free invention even in the concise forms of these short melodies, whose pop-like precision recalls his time with The Bad Plus.

Through a repertoire that touches on myriad points of jazz and classical timelines in a playful yet inventive way, Iverson provides himself with the reference that gives the album its name. "If I take the standard of my own work: I'm on a journey, but I don't think it's over yet. My first album was called "School Work"; maybe in another ten years I'll make the album "Flawless Masterpiece". At the moment, I'm technically acceptable."