"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen."
THE NEW YORK TIMES covers PLAYFAIR SONATAS and the final gigs of '24
It’s still a big deal to be mentioned in The New York Times, so I’m thrilled that Seth Colter Walls came to the press event at Yamaha Artist Services and wrote about the Trombone Sonata and the Clarinet Sonata, both featured on the brand-new Playfair Sonatas. His comment on the Clarinet Sonata:
To my delighted ear, his opening movement’s pianism works as a burr under the saddle of the high-riding, mellifluous riffs in the clarinet. I’ve been singing some of the motifs ever since.
Karl Nehring took a careful listen to Playfair Sonatas for Classical Candor.
Delightful art, informative booklet, and rewarding music that brings a dash of jazz seasoning to chamber music make Playfair Sonatas an irresistible release for music lovers of the jazz and classical persuasions alike.
And I particularly like what John Hurst said in The Hurst Review, for he is dead on about the Wes Anderson aesthetic. (Wes, if you are reading this, gimme a call, I have just the music for your next project…)
Playfair Sonatas is emotionally rich and direct, saturated in whimsy and melody. (Perhaps due to the blend of playfulness and melancholy, perhaps due to the anthology-like nature of these six musical short stories, or perhaps due to the album artwork from New Yorker veteran Roz Chast, the album bears a strange spiritual resemblance to Wes Anderson’s terrific movie The French Dispatch.)
December gigs:
I am playing an intimate house concert in Newton, MA this week, Thursday December 5.
Limited tickets are still available. Anyone interested, please email mkrouner at geemail dot com. That way you will also get on Matt’s email list, he has presented many fine pianists when they come through Boston.
There’s a new piano consortium in town! I was thrilled to be asked by new music virtuoso Kathleen Supové and major Beethoven interpreter Beth Levin to join pianoFORTEpianoFORTE! I had listened to both Kathleen and Beth over the years and was already a big fan of both. We plan to do a proper series in NYC soon, but we are kicking things off with a house concert.
Hiroko Sasaki is my old buddy, we met years and years ago, and this past January I wrote up her great album of Debussy Preludes. In the same post I teased a Piano Sonata for Four Hands. The work is done, and it is my biggest (and best?) sonata yet. I have learned a lot from Hiroko while working on this piece with her.
On December 21 I’ll bring my sextet into the Jazz Gallery; we will reprise the fun repertoire we polished during our summer engagement at Smoke.
and the next afternoon I’m hosting an afternoon of Playfair Sonatas and the Four Hand Sonata at Mezzrow.
Sunday, December 22
4 PM
Free admission; cash bar
Violin Sonata with Miranda Cuckson, violin
Trumpet Sonata with Tim Leopold, trumpet
Sonata for Piano Four-hands with Hiroko Sasaki, piano
Blurb: Mezzrow, 163 W 10th St, is a cultured jazz club in the West Village. Iverson has played there many times, including a duo engagement with Ron Carter during the club’s first month of business.
On December 28, 29, and 31 I’ll be leading the Umbria Jazz Big Band in the premiere of Simply Cinematic, a suite of fresh (and slightly-deconstructed) arrangements of famous movie themes. This will be at the Winter Umbria Jazz Festival in Orvieto. This will be my fourth project with Enzo Capua and Manuele Morbidini; sincere thanks to them for their interest and support.
Thomas Morgan and Kush Abadey will be on bass and drums. There’s room for them to play, and in fact “Laura’s Theme” from Twin Peaks is written as a brass chorale plus piano tinkles and Thomas taking a feature improvisation over the texture. When I told Kush he had to play a big band arrangement of Mission: Impossible he replied, “Bring it on.”