A pianist whose approach blends refined post-bop, classical phrasing, and indie-rock textures, Ethan Iverson first drew notice through solo work before co-founding the Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Active from the early 1990s onward, he issued several solo discs, among them 1993’s School Work, before the trio began releasing a succession of well-received albums such as 2003’s These Are the Vistas and 2008’s For All I Care; on these sets they applied their jazz facility to daring originals while also reworking material by Nirvana, the Flaming Lips, Rush, and others. The 2015 live collaboration The Bad Plus Joshua Redman earned a Grammy nomination. Iverson exited the group in 2017 yet has sustained an active solo trajectory that includes maintaining a widely followed music blog and issuing the 2016 trio recording The Purity of Turf plus 2021’s large-ensemble Bud Powell in the 21st Century; his Blue Note debut, Every Note Is True, appeared in 2022 and was followed by Technically Acceptable in 2023.
Born in Menomonie, Wisconsin, in 1973, Iverson developed an early fascination with music and participated in the Stanford Jazz Workshop before moving to New York in the early 1990s, where he took private lessons with Fred Hersch and Sophia Rosoff. He made his recording debut at age twenty with the 1993 album School Work, accompanied by tenor saxophone giant Dewey Redman, bassist Johannes Weidenmuller, and drummer Falk Willis. In 1998 his trio simultaneously released Construction Zone (Originals) and Deconstruction Zone (Standards); the 1999 follow-up The Minor Passions featured renowned drummer Billy Hart, and the 2000 concert disc Live at Smalls captured performances with saxophonist Bill McHenry and bassist Anderson.
The year 2001 brought the self-titled debut album by the Bad Plus, documenting the trio Iverson formed with longtime friends Anderson and King; the pianist had first encountered the two Minnesota natives in the late 1980s, after which the three collaborated intermittently for more than a decade before formally constituting the group in 2000. Each member contributed distinct influences that shaped the Bad Plus’s iconoclastic jazz sensibility. Over the ensuing fifteen years the ensemble toured and recorded extensively, delivering acclaimed albums including 2003’s These Are the Vistas, 2004’s Give, and 2008’s For All I Care—projects that expanded the jazz repertoire by interpreting contemporary songs from Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, and others alongside lesser-known jazz pieces and classical works—while also producing inventive collections of original material such as 2005’s Suspicious Activity? and 2010’s Never Stop.
Outside the trio, Iverson remained busy, collaborating with saxophonist Chris Cheek, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, singer/pianist Jamie Cullum, and additional artists. In 2012 he joined saxophonist Mark Turner and drummer Billy Hart for the ECM album All Our Reasons; the following year he released the Lennie Tristano-inspired Costumes Are Mandatory with veteran saxophonist Lee Konitz, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Jorge Rossy, and also paired with drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath and bassist Ben Street for Tootie’s Tempo.
In 2012 the Bad Plus undertook a week-long engagement with saxophonist Joshua Redman at New York’s Blue Note jazz club, yielding the 2015 album The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for Redman’s performance on “Friend or Foe.” Iverson next issued the 2016 trio session The Purity of Turf featuring veteran bassist Ron Carter and drummer Nasheet Waits. At the close of 2017 he departed the Bad Plus; the members cited creative differences, and pianist Orrin Evans subsequently joined.
Iverson subsequently recorded the duo ECM album Temporary Kings with saxophonist Mark Turner. A live recording with trumpeter Tom Harrell, Common Practice, appeared in 2019. In 2021 he interpreted the music of legendary pianist Bud Powell with the Umbria Jazz Orchestra on Bud Powell in the 21st Century.
February 2022 marked Iverson’s Blue Note debut with Every Note Is True, a nuanced trio date featuring esteemed veterans Larry Grenadier on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. A second Blue Note album, Technically Acceptable, arrived in 2024 and presented the pianist leading two distinct trios—one with Thomas Morgan and Kush Abadey, the other with Simón Willson and Vinnie Sperrazza.
