Evolving as an independent artist after many years co-piloting The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson lands back on a major label, Blue Note, for this absorbing trio set with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette. For this heaviest of line-ups, Iverson chose music with an invitingly straightforward but slightly bent character, easy for the players to sink their teeth into. In a way, it’s similar to The Bad Plus in its focus on Iverson’s writing (“She Won’t Forget Me” in particular). But the vibe is perhaps closer to Iverson’s old-school, standards-focused trio outings with Albert “Tootie” Heath (Philadelphia Beat, Tootie’s Tempo), or 2016’s The Purity of the Turf with Ron Carter and Nasheet Waits. The set evokes a wide range of moods and feels: The dark, slowly swelling drama of “Blue” contrasts with the dissonant waltz “For Ellen Raskin”, the melancholy solo piano piece “Had I But Known”, the simmering blues “At the Bells and Motley”, and the jaunty Monk-like swing of “Goodness Knows” and “Merely Improbable”. The opener, “The More It Changes”, is an outlier, at first almost like a novelty vocal but in fact a heartfelt and powerful quasi-hymn with a message.