The Bad Plus

Friday is fun, because it’s music. Last time I’ll say that this year. But I’ve got a playlist for you. Two in fact. And a revisit to one of my favourite bands of the last decade or two.

I’ve said it before, I’m sure, but my favourite way to discover new music is, well, for want of a word, randomly.

For 20 years now, I’ve been sent music – had it forced on me, been lucky enough to discover my new favourite band most weeks, and still been out searching for more. And even more after that. Buying albums, borrowing from the library, taking recommendations and swapping titles with friends, and then of course that all got superseded by the Information Super Highway, and we went from researching new music on there to just taking the music directly – and now it pushes itself onto us; sign up to any streaming service and you’re getting algorithm-assists.

I can’t remember how I first heard or heard about The Bad Plus. But I found them. Or they found me. And I’m so glad that happened.

I used to work in a music store, right as the internet was becoming very useful in retail, but hadn’t yet forced the industry into a total rethink, and then inevitable downward spiral. I’d look up bands for people and order in CDs, and sometimes that would lead me to do more digging and follow up on related artists and recommended titles, and I have to assume that I found The Bad Plus that way, nearly 20 years ago.

The reason I’m singling them out – and writing about them in late 2022 – is because I found them again just this week. You see, bands go in and out of your head after a while, and though I’ve been listening To The Bad Plus a lot over the last decade and a half, I hadn’t really thought much about them for a couple of years. And then, the algorithm put them back in front of me, probably because of some recent modern jazz searches and a bit of listening to Jeff Hamilton, Joe Farnsworth, Herlin Riley, and Tyshawn Sorey.

The Bad Plus formed in Minneapolis in 2000. They were a jazz trio, but they were doing something playful within jazz, something equal parts fun and totally academic: Taking songs from pop, rock and electronica and turning them into jazz instrumentals. It really worked. And it sat so nicely with me. Abba and Tears for Fears and Nirvana and Blondie were among the artists The Bad Plus reinterpreted. But it was their gentle, lovely and not that different cover of a favourite Aphex Twin song that really won me over.

So from about 2002-2015, I gobbled up their albums – and even got to see them play live when they were in Wellington (circa 2008, if my memory serves – and these days that’s not always a given). I reviewed them for the Dominion Post newspaper. They played the Town Hall as part of the International Arts Festival. It was a hell of a gig.

Sometime after that they had their way with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

And then they were a quartet with Joshua Redman guesting for a whole album. (And shows).

By this time I was also listening to anything and everything connected to the band, finding solo albums by bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King and pianist Ethan Iverson.

All three players are magical – but I guess I was paying particular attention to King, since drums is my thing; holds a special place in my heart always. And King is both an incredible groover and a hell of an improviser/experimenter – a really colourful showman too.

Live, Iverson was deadpan brilliance in and around his dazzling playing. And Anderson was just so incredibly rock solid.

About six or seven years ago, Iverson left the group – and I presume it was to head toward more solo territory and other collaborations. Reid and King drafted in Orrin Evans, another gifted pianist. I’d heard some of Evans’ solo work and enjoyed hearing him slot in with the band. It was the same. But different. Same configuration but a new musical personality, and when you change one third of the group’s line-up you alter the entire make-up of the band. Even if subtly.

Their first album with Evans was superb; one of my favourites of 2019.

I still liked The Bad Plus but after a while I wasn’t as taken with their sound. Maybe I just needed a break from them.

Well, I’ve had that. And in that break, I found an album by The Bad Plus rhythm section with gifted keyboardist, Craig Taborn – he could have easily been a new member of Bad Plus.

When Orrin Evans decided to move on from the band, clearly he felt he wasn’t quite the right fit or felt stifled or something, he continued to create beautiful music. He made my first favourite album of this year. For example.

So, two great pianists have been and gone and the rhythm section continues to work together on other projects and they continue to make music under their own names individually, so I just assumed that was it for The Bad Plus. Not a bad run.

But they’re back. And they found me this week.

The new album is their first self-titled record. Feels like a statement. And the band is once again a quartet, though this time it’s officially a four-piece line-up, not just a cameo superstar sitting in.

Well, actually it’s two legends of contemporary jazz that have joined the fold full-time. And neither of them is a pianist. So The Bad Plus is now a guitar/saxophone/bass/drums quartet. A whole new sound, a whole new approach, but some of the same feel – or maybe it’s a whole new feel with some of the same old approach? Anyway, the new album is so good it got me back reviewing records. Something that barely happens these days. It’s better than just that though, and I’ll include the album here so you can hear it for yourselves.

I was so blown away by this, I had it on repeat for days. And it’s also had me going back through the catalogue and remembering so many favourites from the three over versions of the band.

In their earliest days the ‘novelty’ covers dictated the flow and feel of the records and live sets. Then in 2010 they released a record of all-original material. And the originals started to dominate from there. But they only ever made one further album of all-original material.

So I wanted to share this band with you – maybe you’ve heard them too, long ago, and needed a reminder. Or perhaps they’re brand new to you. Either way, I’ve created a wee sampler playlist which features something from every album other than the brand new one. And yes, I have stacked it with the covers – because that gives you something to hang onto, an easy way in. Maybe you’ll like what you hear and want more?

And if it’s not for you, there’s this week’s regular playlist. Vol. 97 of A Little Something For The Weekend…Sounds Good!

This is the last time I’ll get to talk about music here this year, so I hope you’ve enjoyed the Friday music posts. And as I said last week, let me know what you’d like to hear and read about next year. And I hope you like checking out – or returning to – The Bad Plus. Lots of options within the one band, it might well be that the old sound is not for you at all and yet you love the new vibes with the guitar-sax version of the band, featuring Ben Monder (guitar) and Chris Speed (saxophone). Or maybe you love the Iverson/Evans versions, or that era where Joshua Redman poked his horn in to play with the band. So many configurations and concepts within the one group.

Happy weekend, happy listening, and thanks for being here this year.