The Birthday Dance: Ethan Iverson Speaks
Photo by Peter Gannushkin, courtesy of the artist.
by Rob Shepherd
A milestone like turning fifty is bound to make anyone consider both the path followed in their life thus far and that which may remain ahead. In the case of pianist Ethan Iverson, a retrospective focus would include his exposure to jazz as a youth in Wisconsin, his time as musical director of the Mark Morris Dance Group, and his role in the original incarnation of The Bad Plus. A look forward may feature his forthcoming second Blue Note album, his work with extended compositional structures, and—most immediately—his birthday celebration at The Jazz Gallery.
Friday, February 3rd’s sold-out show will find him in a trio with masters Billy Hart and Buster Williams. The following night, Iverson will present a special septet with creative music compatriots from his time in the dance world—Jonathan Finlayson, Sam Newsome, Jacob Garchik, Rob Schwimmer, Simón Willson, and Vinnie Sperrazza—with some special guests. We spoke with Iverson about both scheduled performances, some of his musical works to date, and others yet to come.
The Jazz Gallery: How did the fiftieth birthday concerts come together?
Ethan Iverson: I guess maybe I should explain the larger group first. These days, I'm often on the road with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Mark has two lengthy dance productions for which I do the music. One is ‘Pepperland,’ which is about the music of the Beatles. The other is ‘The Look of Love’, which is about Burt Bacharach. Both productions feature many different great jazz musicians that I don't usually gig with outside of that pit band environment. With the septet, I am putting together most of the jazz cats from those two different dance performances. I thought that would be a fun thing to do.
It’s also a way to celebrate something that's not always visible to the jazz audience but that I am proud of and does take up a fair amount of my time. In fact, both ‘Pepperland’ and ‘Look of Love’ are on tour this January and February. ‘Pepperland’ has about eighty performances. ‘Look of Love’ has a brand new piece we are presenting. We have played the piece about ten times, including a well-reviewed run at the Kennedy Center.
TJG: You were also the musical director for Mark Morris’ Dance Group from 1997 to 2001.
EI: Right, exactly.
TJG: Although historically, there is a connection between jazz and dancing, it seems that over time a significant disconnect has developed between the two.
EI: I think what's good about a lot of musicians coming out of the London scene—people like Shabaka Hutchings —and some musicians—like Kamasi Washington—who are from this country. There's something about Black dance culture that actually connects to John Coltrane and spiritual jazz. And they seem to tap into that.
I'm really in favor of incorporating dance elements back into the music. It’s true that what I grew up on and what I like as a jazz player is very esoteric. I'm having the best time of my life playing with Billy Hart's quartet, and it doesn't have much to do with playing for dance; it's real concert music. At the same time, there's an echo of dance in Billy’s drumming that is glorious. Some people call it swing, some people call it ecstasy. Whatever it is, Billy’s got it. And he delivers it, even in this esoteric concert music.
TJG: How do you feel your experiences performing music for dance shape your music outside of the dance context?
EI: Well, if you’re not like Billy Hart, it probably does help to have some training playing for a dance. If getting that swinging feeling isn’t your best thing—it certainly wasn't mine—playing for dance productions helps give you a certain sort of grounded attitude. Long before I worked with Mark Morris, I was a jazz nerd of the highest order. I still am. But I think working with Mark taught me something about the larger frame of communicative art. I don't think I could have played in The Bad Plus, in front of thousands of people, if I hadn't been trained by Mark to light that kind of fire that anyone can see.
TJG: Since you mentioned The Bad Plus, in addition to your turning fifty, this year also marks the twentieth anniversary of that band’s first major album, These are the Vistas (Columbia, 2003). What are your thoughts on the album twenty years later?
EI: I heard the album not long ago on the radio, and I honestly think the album still holds up well. It still sounds good to me. It was shocking at the time it came out. And, since it was genuinely shocking, it remains pretty fresh.
TJG: Were you surprised by how much attention the album, especially its version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” received when it came out?
EI: I certainly was surprised. I didn't have any idea we were going to be as successful as we were. Columbia Records signed us because we were already making waves with audiences at gigs. We were nobodies, but people would respond so well to our performances. Columbia saw the potential for the band on a gig and relayed that into the album. But it was also a piano trio playing relatively avant-garde music, and you can't get around that. I remember being very surprised when I saw a picture of These are the Vistas in the lightbox at Tower Records on West Fourth Street, right next to whatever the top releases were. It was shocking to see something I worked on getting that level of attention.
TJG: By 2018, you left The Bad Plus. How do you feel you have developed most since leaving the group?
EI: It was a big risk to leave because it's incredibly hard to have a successful career in jazz. But I guess I felt like I didn't have any choice. Since then, things have gone very well, and I have plenty to do. I don't have any regrets about leaving The Bad Plus. The thing I probably needed to do the most was to focus on something that swings more and is more in the tradition.
TJG: That interest in swing seems to go back to when you were growing up in Wisconsin. Was it difficult to find opportunities to listen to jazz music back then?
EI: Yeah, especially since it was before the internet. It’s so incredible the way you can listen to John Coltrane and quickly find online anything you want to know about him. Back then—in the 1980s in the cornfields of Wisconsin—it was hard to find jazz music.
TJG: How did you get exposed to jazz, then?
EI: Libraries and mail-order catalogs. My mom got the Publishers Clearing House catalog, and I remember it used to have a listing of budget-priced albums. Those were the first jazz records I had ever ordered. I was playing in a restaurant and making pretty decent money for a high schooler. I spent all that money on records. So, that's how I learned about jazz.
TJG: When did you decide to move to New York?
EI: When it came time for college, I applied to only two places: New York University and The New School. I went to NYU but moved to New York less for the college itself and more to be closer to jazz. New York is still the jazz capital of the world. But it was even more so in 1991.
TJG: One of the groups you worked with in those earlier years in New York was the New York Tango Trio. How did you get involved in making tango music?
EI: The trio was with Raul Jaurena on bandoneon and Pablo Aslan on bass. I played a lot of tango for dances with Pablo, and it was a great learning experience. Unfortunately, we lost Raul to COVID. But Pablo is still with us and is a great bass player. They put up with me as a gringo tango pianist.
I joined the group by responding to an ad they put out looking for a tango pianist. I didn't know anything about traditional tango. I liked Astor Piazzolla, who was part of the nuevo tango school. But traditional ballroom tango is a different style than Piazzolla’s music. I loved it and played for a lot of tango dances with Pablo and Raul. Between working with Mark Morris and the tango trio, almost all of my gigs in my 20s were for dancers. In retrospect, that was good life training. You have to play music that connects. The toughest crowd is dancers. If you can please dancers, you can make good music for anyone.
TJG: Which circles right back to the septet you will be presenting at The Jazz Gallery. Do you plan to do anything further with the group, or will this be a one-off evening?
EI: You know, I wouldn't rule anything out. But all the musicians in the group are great. If there is real magic that night, maybe we would do more. As of now, I'm thinking of it as a one-off. But we’ll see.
TJG: Will the group’s pieces be original compositions?
EI: I think the whole thing will be original, except that [theremin player] Rob [Schwimmer] may be featured on a version of “‘Round Midnight.’” The Theremin is such a unique instrument, and Rob plays it so beautifully. When he plays it, he stops the show, and people gasp in awe.
TJG: Have you written for Theremin much before?
EI: Oh, no. No one writes for the Theremin. It’s a truly obscure instrument. I did write a piece for ‘Pepperland’ that uses the Theremin. But with the septet, I think the trombone and Theremin will have one line and the saxophone and trumpet. That will give a nice two-part counterpoint and should work very well.
TJG: But even a seemingly more traditional instrument like the saxophone may be more than it seems as Sam Newsome often experiments with placing different objects in the horn’s bell. Do you think he will be playing prepared saxophone as part of the performance?
EI: Well, that’s sort of up to Sam. If he wants to break out his preparations, he is more than welcome.
TJG: As part of the evening with the septet, you will also be premiering a new “Prelude and Fugue” for piano. What can you share about the piece?
EI: In the last five or six years, I’ve been writing much more, for lack of a better term, “formal music.” Things, like completely notated scores. I’ve recorded my first piano sonata for my next Blue Note record. The record is mostly a trio album with Thomas Morgan and Kush Abadey, but will also include the piano sonata. I hadn't written a Prelude And Fugue before and thought I should write one. The Prelude is really good. I'm still fussing with the Fugue. Right now, there are probably too many things in it. I need to simplify it. Simple is better.
TJG: The septet is only one of the two groups you will be performing with that weekend at The Jazz Gallery. The other is a trio with Billy Hart and Buster Williams. Did you always intend to split the weekend into a trio one night and a larger group the next?
EI: No. After I put the septet performance in the books for Saturday night, [The Jazz Gallery’s Artistic Director] Rio [Sakairi] called me back and asked if I would perform the whole weekend. But when I reached out to the other musicians in the septet, they were not available for Friday night. So, I just thought about what would be the best birthday gift for myself. Buster Williams and Billy Hart make up one of the all-time great rhythm sections. I play with Billy a lot, but seldom get to play with Buster. They were both free and agreed to play a gig with me. That performance is really my gift to myself. But it's also a real test to see if I can simply hang with these masters in this context.
TJG: What types of compositions will the trio be performing? Mostly standards?
EI: Yeah, I don't think we will play too many originals if any. Instead, we will play stuff that we all know. I'm gonna try to choose a repertoire that will feature them in the right way. It will be common material that we all know and stuff that both Buster and Billy have probably already recorded. Maybe even things they have recorded together. I joked to Billy that we should play “Dolphin Dance.” I don't know if we will actually do that but it would sound incredible to hear those two play that song together.
TJG: Finally, turning fifty is an opportunity to not only look back but forward as well. Is there anything musically you haven't done yet and would like to explore more?
EI: I'm planning to do more and more composing. I've already been composing a lot, though it’s not so visible on record. There's been quite a lot of notes scribbled on paper in the last few years, and I'm becoming more competent in composing extended pieces and pieces for big bands and larger ensembles. I would like to do more of that. And I'm already working on those types of projects. I feel lucky to be where I am, have no real regrets about the past, and I'm looking forward to the future.
The Ethan Iverson Trio with Billy Hart and Buster Williams on Friday, February 3, 2023, is sold-out. Tickets are still available for Iverson’s septet performance at The Jazz Gallery on Saturday, February 4, 2023, featuring Jonathan Finlayson, Sam Newsome, Jacob Garchik, Rob Schwimmer, Simón Willson, Vinnie Sperrazza, and special guests. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. $30 general admission ($15 for members/$10 for student members), $40 reserved cabaret seating ($20 for members) for each set. Saturday’s performance is also available on livestream for $20 ($5 for members). Purchase tickets here.