Ethan Iverson (born February 11, 1973) is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio

The Bad Plus ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

with bassist

Reid Anderson Reid Anderson (born 15 October 1970) is a bassist and composer from Minnesota. He is a member of The Bad Plus with drummer Dave King, saxophonist Chris Speed, and guitarist Ben Monder. The original lineup of The Bad Plus first played together ...

and drummer Dave King.

Biography

Iverson was born in

Menomonie, Wisconsin Menomonie () is a city in and the county seat of Dunn County in the western part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city's population was 16,843 as of the 2020 census. Named for the original inhabitants of the area, the Menominee, the city ...

. Before forming The Bad Plus, he was musical director of the Mark Morris Dance Group and a student of Fred Hersch and

Sophia Rosoff Sophia Rosoff (January 26, 1924 - November 22, 2017) was an American pianist and educator, and a founder of the Abby Whiteside Foundation. She was a co-editor of the reprinted collection of Abby Whiteside's writings, along with Joseph Prostakoff. ...

. He has worked with artists such as

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. Bi ...

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator and record label owner. Biography A native of Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel attended the Philadelphia High School for the ...

Tim Berne Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954) is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones. Biography Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States. He has said that ...

, Mark Turner,

Ben Street Ben Street is an American jazz double bassist. Street has performed and recorded with many renowned artists, including John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Monder, Michael Eckroth, Sam Rivers, Billy Hart, Danilo Perez, Aaron ...

, Lee Konitz, Albert "Tootie" Heath,

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...

Larry Grenadier Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966 in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist. Early life Grenadier's father, Albert, was a trumpet player, and his two brothers, Phil and Steve, play trumpet and guitar, respectively. Grenadier be ...

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

and Ron Carter. He currently studies with John Bloomfield and is on the faculty of the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...

. In 2017, the Bad Plus announced that Iverson was leaving the group, to be replaced by

Orrin Evans Orrin Evans (born 28 March 1975) is an American jazz pianist. Evans was born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia.Lutz, Phillip. "Orrin Evans The Instigator." ''Downbeat'' 81.11 (2014): 42-45. Print. He attended Rutgers University ...

. Also in 2017, the Mark Morris Dance Group premiered ''Pepperland'', for which Iverson composed the score (derived from parts of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'') and led the band during performances. In 2018, Iverson premiered his ''Concerto to Scale'' with the American Composers Orchestra; released the album ''Temporary Kings'' with saxophonist Mark Turner on the ECM label; and toured Europe with the Billy Hart Quartet. In 2019, Iverson and trumpeter

Tom Harrell Tom Harrell (born June 16, 1946) is an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and arranger. Voted Trumpeter of the Year of 2018 by ''Jazz Journalists Association'', Harrell has won awards and grants throughout his career, including mul ...

released the album ''Common Practice'', recorded at the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

, on ECM. Iverson also served as an artistic director of the 2019 Jazz te Gast festival in the Netherlands, at which his orchestral piece ''Solve for X'' premiered. In 2021, Iverson's album ''Bud Powell in the 21st Century'', featuring Ingrid Jensen, Dayna Stephens, Ben Street, Lewis Nash, and the Umbria Jazz Orchestra, was released on Sunnyside Records. 2022 saw the release of Iverson's first record for

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

, "Every Note is True", with

and Jack DeJohnette. The album contains mostly Iverson originals for trio, plus DeJohnette's "Blue" and Iverson's song "The More It Changes" for 44-person socially distanced choir. Iverson also writes about music and music-related topics and has been published by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

''.

Discography

As leader

With

* ''

'' (2001) * ''Authorized Bootleg: New York 12/16/01'' (2002) * '' These Are the Vistas'' (2003) * '' Give'' (2004) * ''Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo'' (1999) * '' Suspicious Activity?'' (2005) * '' Prog'' (2007) * '' For All I Care'' (2008 Europe, 2009 North America) * '' Never Stop'' (2010) * '' Made Possible'' (2012) * ''

The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

'' (2014) * ''

Inevitable Western ''Inevitable Western'' is a 2014 album by jazz trio The Bad Plus. It is the group's tenth studio album and it only contains original compositions. The rear CD insert features a photo of "Big Tex", the marketing icon of the State Fair of Texas. R ...

'' (2014) * ''

The Bad Plus Joshua Redman ''The Bad Plus Joshua Redman'' is a 2015 album by jazz trio The Bad Plus and saxophonist Joshua Redman. The album was generally positively received, achieving a Metacritic score of 84%. Background The record is the group's eleventh studio album ...

'' (2015) * ''

It's Hard ''It's Hard'' is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Who. Released on 4 September 1982, it was the last to feature bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. It was also the second and final Who studio album with drummer Kenney Jones ...

'' (2016)

As sideman

With Albert Heath * ''Live at Small's'' (SmallsLive, 2010) * ''Tootie's Tempo'' (Sunnyside, 2013) * ''Philadelphia Beat'' (Sunnyside, 2015) With

* '' Billy Hart Quartet'' (HighNote, 2006) * ''

All Our Reasons ''All Our Reasons'' is a jazz album by drummer Billy Hart, released on ECM Records in 2012 as ECM 2248.One Is the Other'' (ECM, 2014) With Buffalo Collision (incl.

Hank Roberts Hank Roberts (born March 24, 1954, Terre Haute, Indiana) is an American jazz cellist and vocalist. He plays the electric cello, and his style is a mixture of rock, jazz, avant-garde, folk, and classical influences. He emerged with the downtown N ...

, David King) * ''Duck'' (2008) With

Chris Cheek Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was the director of a Junior high school band. Cheek began learning to play the alto saxophon ...

, and

Jorge Rossy Jorge "Jordi" Rossy (born August 21, 1964) is a jazz drummer, pianist and vibraphonist. Early life Rossy was born in Barcelona. He started playing drums at age 11. Later life and career Between 1980 and 1989, Rossy toured and recorded extensiv ...

* ''Live at the Jamboree: Guilty'' (Fresh Sound, 2002) * ''Live at the Jamboree: Lazy Afternoon'' (Fresh Sound, 2002) With Avantango (

Thomas Chapin Thomas Chapin (March 9, 1957 – February 13, 1998) was an American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist. Though primarily an alto saxophonist, he also played sopranino, as well as soprano, tenor, baritone saxes and flute. Ma ...

and Pablo Aslan) * ''Y en el 2000 Tambien...'' (EPSA Music, Argentina) With

Patrick Zimmerli Patrick Zimmerli (born July 23, 1968) is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and record producer. His work has been performed at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London and Salle Pleyel in Paris, as well as at ...

* ''Twelve Sacred Dances'' (1998) * ''Clockworks'' (2018)

Personal life

Iverson lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, with his wife, the writer Sarah Deming.

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iverson, Ethan Living people 1973 births American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians The Bad Plus members Fresh Sounds Records artists HighNote Records artists Criss Cross Jazz artists ECM Records artists