Reference Specialist Larry Appelbaum was at his station in the Performing Arts Reading Room a few weeks ago when he recognized a researcher who walked in the door. “Hi Ethan!” It was pianist Ethan Iverson of the unconventional jazz trio The Bad Plus. Iverson blogged about the experience in a post he calls “The Secrets of LM 113,” but we hope it doesn’t stay a secret that the Music Division has some incredible jazz holdings. Iverson perused materials by Teddy Wilson, Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, and Noble Sissle, among others. And that, as Larry told him, is just “the top of the tip of the iceberg.”
At one point during his visit Iverson went into one of our listening rooms and gave an impromptu recital of Hall Overton’s “Nocturne” on one of the Music Division’s pianos. As you can see from his blog post, Iverson was thoroughly enthusiastic about the collections, and we hope to see him - and you – in the reading room again. Come in and say hi!