Einar Iversen


Einar "Pastor'n" Iversen was a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer and the son of a "pastor." He went into jazz after World War II ended. Through more than sixty years, he played with everyone in Norwegian jazz.

Career

Iversen was raised in Oslo where he studied classical piano under Inge Rolf Ringnes, Artur Schnabel and Finn Mortensen, and quickly established himself at the Oslo jazz scene. He released his first album with Rowland Greenberg's orchestra, and became one of the most respected Norwegian jazz musicians, awarded Buddyprisen.
He played in a number of theaters, with Dizzy Gillespie at Birdland, on the America Boat with Anthony Ortega and Modern Jazz Quartet, and was a regular pianist at Metropol Jazz Club, where he played with jazz greats such as Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Griffin, and with Svend Asmussen and Stuff Smith in Sweden 1965. He recorded an album with his own trio. He co-operated with Swedish Putte Wickman and Monica Zetterlund, and Povel Ramel on tour in 1978. In Norway, he participated in a number of releases with Bjarne Nerem, Egil Johansen, Totti Bergh, Nora Brockstedt and Ditlef Eckhoff.
He led his own "E. I. Trio" with Tor Hauge and Jon Christensen, containing Jazz standards. On "Gemini Records" he released the album Jazz på norsk, Who can I turn to, Portrait of a norwegian jazz artist – Einar Iversen, and Seaview With Tine Asmundsen and Svein Christiansen. Iversen's recent works have been published in Twelve compositions. He died on 3 April 2019, aged 88.

Honors

Solo albums