# Ethan Iverson Trio at Joe Henderson Lab, March 31, 2024

[SFJAZZ](https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/23-24/ethan-iverson-trio/) presents Ethan Iverson Trio featuring [Gerald Cleaver](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gerald-Cleaver/600006470020306) & [Reuben Rogers](http://www.reubenrogers.com/)  
[Joe Henderson Lab](http://www.sfjazz.org/center)  
[SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=SFJAZZ+Center,+205+Franklin+St,+San+Francisco,+CA+94102+USA&hl=en)  
6:00 PM, Sunday, March 31, 2024

[[2024-03-23|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2024|Up to the 2024 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2024#March_events|Up to the 2024 event list!]] ☸ [[:2024:2024-04:2024-04-04|On to the next event!]]

## Early Show

[6:00 PM] {house introduction; band out; Greetings from EI}

01. [6:01 PM] _It's Fine to Decline_ (Ethan Iverson)
02. [6:13 PM] _All the Things You Are_ (Jerome Kern)  
[6:19 PM] {EI back announcement & pitch for TV work}
03. [6:22 PM] _She Won't Forget Me_ (Ethan Iverson)  
[6:26 PM] {EI pseudo-introduction of the next tune}
04. [6:26 PM] _Laura_ (David Raksin)
05. [6:34 PM] _Evidence_ (Thelonius Monk)  
[6:43 PM] {EI back- & fore-announcements}
06. [6:43 PM] _Fire Waltz_ (Mal Waldron)
07. [6:48 PM] _Killing Me Softly with His Song_ (Charles Fox / Norman Gimbel & Lori Lieberman)  
[6:55 PM] {EI yack about upping his chops}
08. [6:58 PM] _Giant Steps (John Coltrane)_  
[7:04 PM] {thanks & bow}
[7:05 PM] {all done}

## Performers

* [Gerald Cleaver](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gerald-Cleaver/600006470020306): drums;
* [Ethan Iverson](http://dothemath.typepad.com/): piano;
* [Reuben Rogers](http://www.reubenrogers.com/): contrabass.

## Notes

Tonight's early show was a fine way to wrap up Easter Sunday. Ethan and the guys put their heart and soul into a solid hour of music, covering a wide span of moods and tempos. The opener, _It's Fine to Decline_, struck me as the sort of complex, brainy, erudite music that was home base for the Bad Plus repertoire: good stuff when you're up for the challenge of parsing it!

_All the Things You Are_ took me by surprise -- I didn't really recognize it until the band capitulated on the head at the end, and even then, I wouldn't have been certain of the title if Ethan hadn't copped to it by making a formal apology to the memory of Jerome Kern.

_Laura_ on the other hand was gorgeously lush and reminded me of my failure to stay on top of the 'gotta watch' list of all time great films, which seems to get longer faster than I can work it down. It's sad to note the parallels between the fictional story of _Laura_ and the real-life experience of Lori Lieberman, and interesting that her _Killing Me Softly_ mines the same emotional vein as the earlier tune.

During _Evidence_ I was reminded of another failure: that of learning what titles are attached to what Monk tunes! Some of them are easy to recognize (for me, it's those where I can imagine singing the title along to the 'classic' defining riff of the tune). _Evidence_ ought to fit that category, but I couldn't recollect the title ... three cheers for Ethan making time to fill us all in!

_Fire Waltz_ was a nice buzzer, and seemed to me to be a 'what if' tune -- something where Mal Waldron was reacting to Dave Brubeck's _Take Five_ and interpreting it in a fast 6/8 instead of slow 3/4 time. And _Giant Steps_ for the closer? Knock me over with a feather: I was *not* expecting anything like that tonight, wow! Let's close out Easter Sunday with a grand AMEN!

## Photos

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

{{gallery>:2024:2024-03?20240331-*.jpg}}

{{:wip.png?nolink}}  **Whoa!**  This section is incomplete for now, sorry! {{:wip.png?nolink}}

{{tag>music Ethan_Iverson Joe_Henderson_Lab Gerald_Cleaver Reuben_Rogers}}

[[2024-03-23|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2024|Up to the 2024 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2024#March_events|Up to the 2024 event list!]] ☸ [[:2024:2024-04:2024-04-04|On to the next event!]]