He grew up in a musical family: his siblings were singers and jazz and blues were played constantly.
Ivery joined the army upon graduating from George Washington Carver High School in 1957 and pursued medical training.
While assigned to a medical clinic in Paris, France, he sat in with pianist Bud Powell.
He returned to the US in 1960 and pursued a musical career, touring with the Bobby Blue Band, Al Braggs, Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Joe Turner, Freddie King, and others.
[1][2] He did not put out an album under his own name until 1994, at age 56, when he recorded Marchel's Mode, featuring Coltrane pianist Cedar Walton.