(Semi) Recent Releases No. 71 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Debussy: Preludes, Books I & II. Hiroko Sasaki, piano (Pleyel 1879). Piano Classics PCL0064

Ethan Iverson: Technically Acceptable. Iverson: Conundrum; Victory Is Assured; Technically Acceptable; Who Are You, Really?; The Chicago Style; It’s Fine to Decline; The Way Things Are; Charles Fox / Norman Gimbel: Killing Me Softly With His Song; Thelonious Monk / Charles Cootie Williams: ‘round Midnight; Iverson: The Feeling Is Mutual; Piano Sonata – I. Allegro Moderato; II. Andante; III. Rondo. Ethan Iverson, piano (all selections); Thomas Morgan, double bass; Kush Abadey, drums; Vinnie Sperrazza, drums; Simón Willson, double bass; Rob Schwimmer, theremin.

 

I am reviewing these two albums together because although they are on the surface quite different, one being a solo piano album of music by the French composer Debussy, the other being a jazz album, there are some significant overlaps between the two releases. First of all, the Wisconsin-born Iverson and Japan-born Sasaki are friends, both currently residing in New York. In a recent posting on Iverson’s Transitional Technology (“TT”) he not only offers some background on their friendship but also some hint of his familiarity with the classical repertoire: “Hiroko Sasaki and I met in the early 1990s when we were both college students. I’ve always admired her playing, but only just recently have we started getting together and collaborating at the piano. The first fruits of our teamwork was the discovery of an unheralded Chopin variant, written up here at TT last month: “The Mystery of Chopin’s Thirds.” Now that Hiroko and I are practicing a bit of four-hand Schubert and Dvořák repertoire, I’ve started making sketches for my own four-hand arrangements and compositions.”

 

We shall get to some of Iverson’s compositions before long, but first, let’s read a bit of what Iverson has to say about his friend’s Debussy recording:  “Hiroko’s recording of both books of Debussy’s Preludes is a significant disc, both for the stellar playing and the unique instrument. Debussy composed the preludes between 1909 and 1913. We will never know what his pianos sounded like, but they undoubtedly were closer to the 1873 Pleyel on Hiroko’s record than a perfectly regulated modern Steinway that exhibits no blemishes whatsoever. Under Hiroko’s hands, the bass notes on the Pleyel grunt, the middle register is exceptionally mellow, and the high octaves have a bit of screech. To be clear, it’s still very tasteful! Often ‘historical piano’ recordings are simply too extreme and weird, but this record offers exceptional atmosphere as well as exceptional playing.”

Well, yes, they are friends, so yes, we expect him to say nice things about her album. On the other hand, as a top-flight pianist himself, he knows what he is talking about. His discussion of the music itself is quite fascinating. His full posting from January 20, 2024, can be found here. I’d like to quote one brief passage just to give a quick sense of the relation between Debussy and jazz: “Several Debussy pieces foreshadow late ‘50s jazz harmony. I’d bet my bottom dollar that Bill Evans played through the phrases of Feuilles mortes. One can almost hear ‘Kind of Blue’ at certain moments. Even the title relates to a famous jazz standard that Bill Evans played on countless gigs: ‘Autumn Leaves’ is based on Les Feuilles mortes by the French composer Joseph Kosma. (Apart from the title, the two pieces are not related musically, although Evans would play plenty of stuff on ‘Autumn Leaves’ that he seemed to have learned from Debussy.)” The rest of his posting about her album contains many more insights about Debussy’s music and Sasaki’s playing that are well worth reading. And beyond this particular essay (“TT 353: Hiroko Sasaki Plays Debussy”), there are many other insightful, delightful, penetrating entries. For music lovers, especially those who might have an interest in music history and theory, jazz, and the contemporary music scene, Transitional Technology could be a valuable resource well worth the relatively modest investment required for a monthly or annual subscription. 

 

Having offered Iverson’s thoughts on Sasaki’s album above, of course I need to offer a few observations of my own. When I received the album, I was curious about how the Pleyel piano would sound in this music; indeed, I was concerned that it might come across as a bit too tinny or “plinky” (not a real word, but I believe most readers will know what I am trying to express) sounding, but a few minutes of listening allayed those fears. At that point, I was able to simply sit back and enjoy a fine set of Debussy Preludes. Clean, articulate playing, natural sound quality, emotion without exaggeration. Highly recommendable.

 

On to Iverson’s release, then. Two years ago, we reviewed his previous release on the venerable Blue Note label, Every Note Is True, on which he was accompanied by jazz veterans Larry Grenadier on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. On Technically Acceptable, things are a bit more varied in terms of both personnel and compositions. On the first seven tunes, all composed by Iverson, he is accompanied by Thomas Morgan on bass and Kush Abadey on drums. All are standard jazz piano trio pieces, but the opening piece, Conundrum, is through-composed, with no improvisation – unusual for a jazz trio.

On the eighth (Killing Me Softly With His Song, made famous in the 1970s in a vocal arrangement by Roberta Flack) and tenth (Iverson’s The Feeling Is Mutual) tracks, Iverson is joined by Simón Willson on bass and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums, musicians with whom he had developed a rapport playing together in support of the Mark Morris Dance Company. Iverson says that they were going for a ‘60s sound for these tracks, which they recorded in the same room together, without wearing headphones.

 

Now we come to the two most fascinating tracks on the album. ‘round Midnight is a standard that by now even most people otherwise unfamiliar with jazz are probably familiar, for it has been played by so many different musicians in so many different arrangements. However, Iverson has come up with something unexpected. First, he says he was inspired by the late Ornette Coleman to write an intro to the piece that would be unrelated to the main melody. Then, rather than playing the familiar melody on his piano, as you would naturally expect, he assigns that part to – of all instruments – the theremin, which under Rob Schwimmer's expert hands (Schwimmer had also played previously with Iverson in a Mark Morris production) sounds much like an operatic soprano singing vocalise. In the long, distinguished history of the Blue Note label, this is the first time a theremin has ever made an appearance. You can hear it for yourself here.

The final composition on the album is Iverson’s first published piano sonata. Although of course informed by his experience as a jazz musician, it is a serious “classical” composition. As he says, “I’ve always played sonatas, now I’ve written one.” Blue Note has made available on YouTube a video where you can follow the score of the opening movement (you can see that video here). The sonata joins the theremin in being a first on Blue Note. Although the program might look to be a jazz album with a piano sonata unexpectedly tacked on at the end, the sonata has just enough of a jazz sensibility to it to keep it from feeling completely out of place. Taken as a whole, Technically Acceptable is much more than that; it is musically stimulating, sonically superb, and well worth an audition by jazz and classical fans alike.