There are a number of elements on Technically Acceptable, the new release from Ethan Iverson, that you would expect from a pianist on a legendary jazz label: there’s an ample helping of the blues, a tune built on rhythm changes, spirited trio interactions, a reimagined song from the hit parade, and even a Thelonious Monk standard. This being an Ethan Iverson date, however, none of those classic idioms are revived without a twist of some kind. The ballad ‘Killing Me Softly’ is given a sixties pop vibe, for example, and the melody of ‘’Round Midnight’ is played by a theremin. There’s even a piano sonata.

Technically Acceptable is Iverson’s second album on Blue Note Records, and appears over thirty years after his solo artist debut School Work. Meanwhile he has celebrated huge success with The Bad Plus, the piano trio that shook up the jazz world with their imaginative interpretations of music outside the genre, from Nirvana via Aphex Twin to Ligeti and Stravinsky. Since leaving that group, Iverson presented the live project Bud Powell in the 21st Century, among others, as well as albums with Mark Turner and Tom Harrell on ECM Records.

Ethan Iverson piano, Thomas Morgan bass, Kush Abadey drums