Ethan Iverson: Technically Acceptable – The blatant humblebrag of a jazz wonder

Ethan Iverson is modern jazz’s renaissance man. Iverson - still probably best known as a founding member of the Bad Plus, the highly successful trio of “avant-garde populists” he left in 2017 - is a pianist, composer, blogger, critic, essayist, educator and scholar. He has written a piano concerto and reimagined the music of Bud Powell, Burt Bacharach and Stravinsky. Further enthusiasms include crime fiction, 1970s car movies and Doctor Who.

If this makes him sound restless and just a little bit geeky, maybe in a good way, then both of those qualities – plus Iverson’s contrarian sense of adventure – are to be found in creative abundance on this second release for the fabled Blue Note label.

Technically Acceptable is really several albums in one. The first seven tracks feature Iverson’s new trio of the bassist Thomas Morgan and the drummer Kush Abadey playing the leader’s clear, concise and tightly controlled originals. Elsewhere, there is a faithful version of Killing Me Softly with His Song and two Blue Note firsts: a keening theremin, played by Rob Schwimmer, tracing the haunting melody of Monk’s ’Round Midnight; and a Gershwinesque piano sonata, composed and performed by Iverson himself.

“If I’m taking the measure of my own work, I’m on a journey,” says the 50-year-old American. “My first album was called School Work; maybe in another 10 years I’ll create the album Flawless Masterpiece. For now, I’m Technically Acceptable.” It’s a blatant humblebrag. But no question: Iverson is a jazz wonder and one-off.