TT 355: "It's Fine to Decline"

Decline WHAT?

(with Kush Abadey and Thomas Morgan)

The latest recording Technically Acceptable covers a fair amount of territory; in some ways it is three or four albums in one. The first seven selections feature the “new trio” with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Kush Abadey. We are playing the Village Vanguard this week and doing a substantial amount of work in Europe.

Jan. 31 – Budapest Jazz Club – Budapest, Hungary
Feb. 1 – Porgy & Bess – Vienna, Austria
Feb. 2 – Jazzclub Unterfahrt – Munich, Germany
Feb. 3 —Villa Reale di Monza — Monza, Italy
Feb. 4 —  Cuccagna Jazz — Milano, Italy
Feb. 5 – Victoria Eugenia Theatre – San Sebastian, Spain
Feb. 6 - L'Auditori – Barcelona, Spain
Feb. 21 – Paradox – Tilburg, Netherlands
Feb. 22 – LantarenVenster – Rotterdam, Netherlands
Feb. 23 – Bimhuis – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Feb. 24 - La Spirale – Fribourg, Switzerland
Feb. 26 - Helsinki (SF), G Livelab
Feb 27 - Tampere (SF), G Livelab
Feb. 28 – Victoria – Oslo, Norway
Feb. 29 – Fasching – Stockholm, Sweden
March 1 – Jazz In Bess – Lugano, Switzerland
March 2 – Jazzclub – Ferrara, Italy
March 4 – Teatro Carambolage – Bolzano, Italy

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A basic rule: The harder the chart, the less personality from the player. The opener “Conundrum” is a studio production. Thomas and Kush play it great but the piece is through-composed with no improvisation.

“Conundrum” is an exception, for most of what I’m writing for trio these days is actually very simple. The charts almost look childish. But a basic frame leaves room for a group identity to form. I’m pleased with the band chemistry on the record, and am looking forward to seeing how this repertoire develops during the live gigs.

Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and most everybody else from that era played the blues and rhythm changes at least once a set. Is there still room to find a personal space in these old forms? I’m trying to find out…

Kush is on his way back from a Melissa Aldana tour, so Marcus Gilmore is filling in for tomorrow night. (Thomas and Marcus played with Fred Hersch last week, so Marcus’s drums are already at the club.)

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There’s been quite a lot of amazing press for Technically Acceptable. Sincere thanks to Phil Freeman for this extensive overview of my career in Stereogum. Wow!

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Philip Watson — who literally wrote the book on Bill Frisell — gave me a headline for the ages in The Irish Times : “Technically Acceptable – The blatant humblebrag of a jazz wonder.”

Jim Hynes in Glide: “Iverson…continues to display his virtuosity and sly quirkiness in an album that includes pop-oriented jazz, blues, intricate trio interactions, a jazz standard, and the first-ever piano sonata in the Blue Note catalog.”

Matt Collar at AllMusic: “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.”

Thierry De Clemensat in Paris Move: “Thirteen necessary pieces, each distinct, a poetic call to dream, an undefined literature slipping in the background, a music that one visualizes, that one appropriates.”

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