Congratulations to Ethan Iverson on his new position. Here's the press release.
"Perhaps NYC's most thoughtful and
passionate student of jazz tradition–the most admirable sort of
artist-scholar." – Time Out New York
New England
Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department has hired renowned
pianist Ethan Iverson – best known for his work as part
of The Bad Plus – to
join the jazz studio faculty beginning with the 2016-2017 academic
year.
"I've been a big fan of Ethan Iverson for many
years, not only because of his incredible playing with Bad Plus and
others, but also because of his probing and insightful blog, 'Do the
Math.' I'm thrilled to have him joining us at NEC," said Ken
Schaphorst, Chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department.
“After visiting NEC recently I was impressed with
the level of students and the general commitment to searching out
creative music,” said Iverson. “Teaching is something I've been more
and more attracted to recently: It is a natural outgrowth of my blog Do
the Math. At NEC I expect to grow personally and artistically alongside
the students."
Iverson has earned wide acclaim for his work as
one-third of The Bad Plus, a game-changing collective with Reid
Anderson and David King. The New York Times called TBP
"...Better than anyone at melding the sensibilities of post-60's
jazz and indie rock." TBP has performed in venues as diverse as
the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, and Bonnaroo; collaborated
with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and the Mark Morris Dance
Group; and created a faithful arrangement of
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and a radical reinvention of
Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction (the latter with Tim Berne,
Ron Miles, and Sam Newsome).
In addition to TBP, Iverson participates in the
critically acclaimed Billy Hart Quartet with Mark Turner and Ben Street
and occasionally performs with an elder statesman like Albert
"Tootie" Heath or Ron Carter. For a decade Iverson's
blog Do the Math has been a repository of
musician-to-musician interviews and analysis, which is surely one
reason Time Out New York selected Iverson as one of 25 essential
New York jazz icons: "Perhaps NYC's most thoughtful and
passionate student of jazz tradition–the most admirable sort of
artist-scholar."
NEC's Jazz Studies Department was the first
fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The
brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz
into the curriculum when he became President of the Conservatory in
1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur
"genius" grant recipients (three currently teaching) and four
NEA Jazz Masters. The program has spawned numerous Grammy winning
composers and performers and has an alumni list that reads like a who's
who of jazz. As Mike West writes in JazzTimes: “NEC's jazz
studies department is among the most acclaimed and successful in the
world; so says the roster of visionary artists that have comprised both
its faculty and alumni.” The program currently has 95 students;
48 undergraduate and 47 graduate students from 13 countries.
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