Ethan Iverson

1 week ago | iverson.substack.com | Ethan Iverson

Stanley Cowell (1941—2020) was a pianist of remarkable accomplishment, someone nearly neck and neck with Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett in terms of modern jazz fluidity, but with added skills in the old school stride-to-swing department. Cowell also had serious ambitions as a composer, and at least one piece, “Equipoise,” has entered the repertoire. Like so many, Cowell was underrated and remains unheralded. But I think the time of his 2015 Juneteenth Suite will come.

1 week ago | iverson.substack.com | Ethan Iverson

The late Nat Hentoff would have turned 100 on June 10. Although some might argue that the main part of Hentoff’s legacy is political—as a champion of the First Amendment and author of countless pointed columns at the Village Voice and other places—he also did a tremendous amount for jazz, especially when he was young. Reading early Hentoff clarifies just how mainstream jazz was at midcentury.

1 week ago | iverson.substack.com | Ethan Iverson

There are six episodes of Nathan Fielder’s latest, a second season of The Rehearsal. While the first season was absolutely wonderful, the second is simply beyond the beyond. I suppose if you woke me up in the dead of night, put me under an interrogation lamp, and roughly demanded to know the greatest thing I have ever seen on television, I’d have to answer, “The second season of The Rehearsal.” Fielder is making truly challenging art that directly interfaces with the current condition.

2 weeks ago | iverson.substack.com | Ethan Iverson

Saturday:Concert is at Klavierhaus, Saturday June 14, at 7:30. Beth Levin will be playing Mendelssohn, and Kathleen Supové will be playing her own music + Tom Flahery and Randall Woolf. $15 at the door, benefit for the ACLU. I'll be playing James P. Johnson including "Keep Off the Grass," "Snowy Morning Blues," "The Mule Walk," "Worried and Lonesome Blues," "Jingles," "Blueberry Rhyme," and "You've Got To Be Modernistic."Two of my best YouTube videos are of James P. Johnson repertoire.

2 weeks ago | iverson.substack.com | Ethan Iverson

(I saw Al Foster’s band many times; it was always great and Doug Weiss was always on bass. Thanks very much to Doug for sharing his memories. — e.i.)I will speak of him in the present. First off, he never says goodbye on the phone. He is a bit superstitious. He won’t pick money up off the floor, or say goodbye. Never goodbye, always “aight,” or “ok.” The last word he said to me, on May 25, 2025, was “OK.” Click. We shared Love, Regret and Forgiveness, and Tears.