Pianist and composer
Ethan Iverson follows up his 2022
Blue Note debut,
Every Note Is True, with 2024's
Technically Acceptable, a tonally wide-ranging and amusingly unpredictable project showcasing two different trios. The first half of the album features bassist
Thomas Morgan and drummer
Kush Abadey, adept players who dive into a handful of
Iverson's distinctive originals. In particular, cuts like the opening "Conundrum," with its
Rachmaninoff-esque minor-key melody, and "Victory Is Assured," with its ringing sleigh bell-sounding piano chord intro, evoke a bold cross between the 1960s work of the
Dave Brubeck Quartet and the crisply arranged, rock-influenced style
Iverson championed with
the Bad Plus. There's also the slowly churning "The Way Things Are," whose loping, twangy melody and crunchy chordal accents bring to mind both
Thelonious Monk and
Duke Ellington. Elsewhere, the pianist is joined by bassist
Simón Willson and drummer
Vinnie Sperrazza for two deeply felt standards performances, including a tender reading of the R&B ballad "Killing Me Softly with His Song." We also get a bold rendition of "Round Midnight" featuring a vocal-like theremin lead from
Rob Schwimmer. That latter track conjures a theatrical chamber-music vibe, as if
Iverson was scoring a 1940s film noir. The final three songs also have a chamber quality and feature a three-part solo piano sonata that finds
Iverson displaying his broad classical influences. Those last three tracks, as with much of
Technically Acceptable, reflect
Iverson's hard-to-contain music personality -- reserved and lyrical one minute and leaping with wild, dancerly ideas the next. ~ Matt Collar
