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 Bad Plus is an American jazz group from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, formed in 2000. They were originally a piano trio, but became a quartet in 2021: founding members Reid Anderson on bass and David King on drums, as well as guit ...

with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.

Biography

Iverson was born in

Menomonie, Wisconsin Menomonie () is a city in and the county seat of Dunn County, Wisconsin, United States. The city's population was 16,843 as of the 2020 census. Menomonie forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Menomonie Micropolitan Statistical A ...

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

Fred Hersch Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 17-time Grammy nominée. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than ...

and Sophia Rosoff. He has worked with artists such as

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

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator, keyboardist and record label owner. Biography Born in Philadelphia to a musical family, Rosenwinkel began taking piano lessons when ...

, Tim Berne, Mark Turner, Ben Street,

Lee Konitz Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...

, Albert "Tootie" Heath,

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

Larry Grenadier Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966, in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist. Early life Grenadier's father was a trumpet player in World War II army bands and later in Europe but stopped playing professionally before his chi ...

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 fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playin ...

and

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...

. 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 college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

. 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, Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia.Lutz, Phillip. "Orrin Evans The Instigator." ''Downbeat'' 81.11 (2014): 42-45. Print. He attended ...

. 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. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...

'') and led the band during performances. From there he became the music director of Mark Morris Dance for five years . 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 jaz ...

, 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 Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

, "Every Note is True", with

and

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, B ...

. 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. 2024 was a productive year with the release of ''Technically Acceptable'' and another foray into classic music with ''Playfair Sonatas''. Ethan Iverson at Birdland in 2025

Iverson is an active live performer who is often found playing in his home town of New York, as a lead, side man, or organizer. He especially enjoys appearing with the legends he listened to and inspired him, such as

Buster Williams Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, as well as working with guitarist Larry Coryell, the Thelonious Monk reperto ...

, and others.

Other work

Iverson also writes about music and music-related topics and has been published by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

'', and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...

,'' as well as his substack Transitional Technology. An aficionado of crime writing, Iverson is an expert in the works of Donald E. Westlake, and was friends with the writer. After Westlake's death, Iverson wrote an extensive essay reviewing almost all of Westlake's more than 100 books. He assisted editor Levi Stahl in assembling Westlake's posthumous collection ''The Getaway Car''.

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 ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...

'' (2014) * '' Inevitable Western'' (2014) * '' The Bad Plus Joshua Redman'' (2015) * '' It's Hard'' (2016)

As sideman

With

Albert Heath Albert "Tootie" Heath (May 31, 1935 – April 3, 2024) was an American jazz hard bop drummer, the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and the double-bassist Percy Heath. With Stanley Cowell, the Heaths formed the Heath Brothers jazz b ...

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

* '' Billy Hart Quartet'' (HighNote, 2006) * '' All Our Reasons'' (ECM 2012) * '' One Is the Other'' (ECM, 2014) With Buffalo Collision (incl. Tim Berne,

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 Ne ...

, David King) * ''Duck'' (2008) With Chris Cheek, Ben Street, and

Jorge Rossy Jorge "Jordi" Rossy (born August 21, 1964) is a Spain, spanish jazz drum kit, drummer, piano, pianist and vibraphone, vibraphonist. Early life Rossy was born in Barcelona. His father, Mario, played the piano that was in the family home, as did ...

* ''Live at the Jamboree: Guilty'' (Fresh Sound, 2002) * ''Live at the Jamboree: Lazy Afternoon'' (Fresh Sound, 2002) With Avantango ( Thomas Chapin and Pablo Aslan) * ''Y en el 2000 Tambien...'' (EPSA Music, Argentina) With Patrick Zimmerli * ''Twelve Sacred Dances'' (1998) * ''Clockworks'' (2018)

Personal life

Iverson lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, 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