Redefining Genre and the Music Business with Jazz Pianist Ethan Iverson

Cultural Mixtapes

As part of this mini series on the past and future of the music industry, I wanted to speak to another person who’s been a force in the industry for years. I came across an article in The Nation that was called The End of the Music Business. This piece presented the history of a century in recorded music that began with pre-war 78-rpm gramophone records, and ended with the onset of streaming websites. The thesis of the piece was that the most notable development in these hundred years was the LP, which marked the apex of commercial music making and album sales. The piece was written by Jazz Pianist Ethan Iverson. Ethan has been in the industry for over 20 years, and is now a mainstay of jazz clubs in New York and all over the country.

He was a founding member of the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus in the year 2000 and he stayed with the group for 17 years. In addition to being a jazz pianist, Ethan also has written prolifically about music, and culture for years on his blog DO THE MATH, and now his Substack TRANSITIONAL TECHNOLOGY.

Ethan and I began with this piece in The Nation. And he talked through his experience in the music industry, and his predictions for where things may go. But from there we started exploring his intricate career in Jazz. Ethan has traversed through the genre, from The Bad Plus, which served as a bridge between contemporary jazz and popular music, to his current compositions, such as a piano sonata, which strive to place Jazz in conversation with classical music. As you know, I’m fascinated by work that asks complicated questions about the genre it originates from. So this last idea is where we ended our conversation. and as someone who’s studied both styles and performed in both traditions, Ethan may be an apt person to think about the future of American music. This was a wonderful conversation that covered over a hundred years of American music, had a lovely Tony Bennett cameo, and forced me to think about pushing the boundaries and changing the terms we use to define genres of music.

Ethan’s Substack

Ethan's Blog (Archive)

Every Note is True - Blue Note Records

The End of the Music Business - The Nation

Recommendations

Barbie Movie

Henning Mankell’s Crime Fiction

Other Artists Mentioned

Tony Bennett

Billy Hart

Thelonious Monks

Ron Carter

Duke Ellington

Ornette Coleman

McCoy Tyner

Miles Davis

John Coltrane

Charlie Parker

Charles Ives

Conlan Nancarrow