Ethan Iverson 'Into the Dark'
Pianist, composer, and writer Ethan Iverson was a founding member of The Bad Plus, a game-changing collective with Reid Anderson and David King. The New York Times called TBP “Better than anyone at melding the sensibilities of post-60’s jazz and indie rock.” During his 17-year tenure, TBP performed in venues as diverse as the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, and Bonnaroo; collaborated with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and the Mark Morris Dance Group; and created a faithful arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a radical reinvention of Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction.
Since leaving TBP, Iverson has kept busy. 2017: Co-curated a major centennial celebration of Thelonious Monk at Duke University and premiered the evening-length Pepperland with the Mark Morris Dance Group. 2018: premiered an original piano concerto with the American Composers Orchestra and released a duo album of new compositions with Mark Turner on ECM. 2019: Common Practice with Tom Harrell (ECM), standards tracked live at the Village Vanguard. 2021: Bud Powell in the 21st Century, a vigorous reconsideration of the bebop master, is featured on the March cover of DownBeat. 2022: The current release is Every Note is True on Blue Note records, an album of original work in trio with Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette.
Iverson also has been in the critically-acclaimed Billy Hart quartet for well over a decade and occasionally performs with elder statesmen like Albert “Tootie” Heath or Ron Carter or collaborates with noted classical musicians like Miranda Cuckson and Mark Padmore. For almost 20 years, Iverson’s website Do the Math has been a repository of musician-to-musician interviews and analysis. Time Out New York selected Iverson as one of 25 essential New York jazz icons: “Perhaps NYC’s most thoughtful and passionate student of jazz tradition—the most admirable sort of artist-scholar.” Iverson has also published articles about music in the New Yorker, NPR, The Nation, and JazzTimes. Iverson resides in Park Slope with his wife Sarah Deming.
The Cooler is located upstairs at The Complex Arts Centre, 12 Mary's Abbey Dublin 7. The entrance to The Cooler is through the same door as The Depot at The Complex, on the Mary's Abbey side of the building, where the LUAS tracks run. The building has a red wall on the left hand side of a front plaza that has a sign reading 'The Complex', and a blue wall facing the front plaza that has a sign reading 'The Complex - Art Lives Here'.
The plaza in front of The Complex is used by the surrounding businesses and is often full of fruits, vegetables or delivery vehicles. You can still access The Cooler at these times.
Above the blue door, you'll see a painted sign for The Depot. The Cooler is marked by a small sign between the main glass doors (sometimes covered by blue shutters) and a blue artist's door. The glass doors will be open for performances from door times (usually 7:30pm).
The Cooler cannot be accessed from the Arran St East side of The Complex - this is the entry for the Gallery and artist studios only. If you have any trouble locating the Cooler please give Caitriona a call on 087 783 3391.
To find the Cooler Google Maps, search for The Cooler or The Depot at The Complex (the main performance space downstairs at The Complex). If you find the address for just The Complex, it will generally will bring you to the gallery on Arran St East.
The performance space is up two flights of stairs and may be difficult to access for patrons with additional mobility needs. The space is fully seated. Gender-neutral toilet facilities are available upstairs (a few steps up from the level of The Cooler). Baby-changing facilities are available at The Gallery, downstairs at The Complex (using the Arran St entrance).
If you have any other queries regarding accessibility or require any accommodations for seating etc, please contact us at admin @ improvisedmusic . ie and we will do our best to assist you.
The red line of the LUAS runs very close to The Cooler, taking the stop at Jervis St or at Four Courts. Many different bus lines run to Ormond Quay, Inns Quay, or Church Street, which are all a couple of streets away from The Cooler.
There is unfortunately no customer parking available at The Complex. During the day, a small gated Dublin City Council car park can be accessed on Marys' Lane around the corner, at standard rates. Jervis Shopping Centre Car Park is also close by, with varying opening hours. Some street parking is available nearby - days and rates vary, please check signs.
More About this Artist
February 2022 saw the release of Every Note is True on Blue Note Records, an album of original work featuring Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette.
Martin Johnson positions Iverson career at this moment for Tidal.
“He’s gone from being arguably jazz and improvised music’s leading popularizer to its leading wonk….But Iverson’s star may be on the rise again.”
The very words of Iverson’s opening track is in the title of Morgan Enos’s this fine overview of the label for Grammy.com. “We Pass the Ball to Other Ages: Inside Blue Note’s Creative Resurgence In The 2020s.”
“As he cooked breakfast, Iverson’s plucky virtual choir ‘just made me burst out in tears, man,’ [Don] Was tells GRAMMY.com. ‘It’s one of the most beautiful summations of the eternal nature of music and the musicians who make it.’
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Nate Chinen selected “She Won’t Forget Me” for his Valentine’s Day Take Five at WBGO:
“Every Note Is True, the new Blue Note debut by Ethan Iverson, rings with a sense of at-homeness — not home itself, per se, but a mix of fondness, familiarity and assurance.”
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Tony Badran wrote a delightfully ambitious overview of the Iverson world in Tablet.
“Iverson’s respect for and engagement with the jazz tradition imbues his music with a real warmth while avoiding the traps of musty pretentiousness.”
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Willard Jenkins featured Iverson in an extended Q&A on Open Sky: “Ethan Iverson, Jazz Renaissance Man.”
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Karl W. Nehring in Classical Candor:
“There are echoes of Bach, but yet it is clearly jazz. As the program proceeds, the interplay among the three musicians is fascinating. None of them is showing off, but each of them is exhibiting mastery. Gradually, the influence of baroque and classical gradually shifts until by the time we get to the final track, ‘At the Bells and Motley,’ we are in blues territory.
Adding to the appeal of the album is the top-notch engineering. It was recorded by Andreas K. Meyer with the assistance of Shubham Mondal at the Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY, and is simply one of the finest-sounding trio recordings I have ever auditioned. I have argued before that jazz can be thought of as a form of chamber music; this album is a prime example.”
Downbeat““Best of all, another noontime treat spotlighted pianist Ethan Iverson—recently left to his own various creative devices after leaving the Bad Plus. He delivered a rare and riveting solo set, demonstrating a witty and mischievous virtuosity, deconstructed standards finding fresh pathways amid the realm of his solo practice. ”
