Ethan Iverson Quartet with Tom Harrell: Common Practice

Jeff Tamarkin on December 18, 2019
Ethan Iverson Quartet with Tom Harrell: Common Practice

Two years after leaving his longtime home in The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson has now released his first proper “leader album” with a band, following a duo set with saxophonist Mark Turner. It’s a live set featuring the reliably innovative rhythm section of double bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric McPherson, as well trumpeter Tom Harrell, who is as consistently brilliant as anyone working his instrument today. Iverson goes heavy on the standards for this one, injecting only two original compositions into the mix. Among the other nine tracks are several that will be familiar to anyone who listens regularly to jazz, including the album-opening, Gershwinpenned “The Man I Love,” given a near-solemn, airy reading that makes it clear that Iverson is not out to strut. Other Great American Songbook staples, including “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” and “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” are considerably sprightlier, especially when Harrell steps up to blow. His solos are, throughout, expressive and rich in tone; Iverson draws inspiration from the trumpeter and hands back some of his own, making for a rewarding conversation from the stage. The two Iverson originals, “Jed from Teaneck” and “Philadelphia Creamer,” are also lively workouts, although there are more sparks to be found in some of the other interpretations: Johnny Green and Edward Heyman’s “Out of Nowhere” turns the spotlight on Street for an extended moment that allows him to display his dexterity sufficiently, and “All the Things You Are,” the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II standard, is playful and sweet until the quartet decides unanimously that it no longer should be, kicking things up a few notches.