The Bad Plus | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, avant-garde jazz |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | HUI, Universal, Do the Math |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | www |
The Bad Plus is an American jazz quartet, formerly a trio, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, consisting of founding bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King, as well as guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed.
Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and David King first played together in 1989 but established The Bad Plus in 2000. The band recorded their first album, a self-titled effort released on Fresh Sound, after playing only three gigs together.
A live performance at the Village Vanguard was heard by Columbia Records representative Yves Beauvais, and the band was signed to Columbia in 2002. Their major label debut album, These Are the Vistas , was released in 2003. This was followed by Give in 2004 and Suspicious Activity? in 2005.
After parting ways with Columbia, the group signed to Heads Up Records (a division of Telarc), and released the album Prog in 2007. In early Spring of 2008 they finished recording their next studio album, For All I Care , which features vocalist Wendy Lewis. It was released in autumn 2008 in Europe and in spring 2009 in the US. Their album Never Stop was released in September 2010.
The trio served as artists in residence at Duke University in 2010 and 2011. On March 24, 2011, they premiered their version of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" at Duke's Reynolds Theater. [1] [2]
In 2014 a concert at the Village Vanguard in New York was recorded on video and published on YouTube. [3]
The trio's music combines elements of modern avant-garde jazz with rock and pop influences. The band have recorded versions of songs by Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Blondie, Pink Floyd, Ornette Coleman, Pixies, Rush, Tears for Fears, Neil Young, David Bowie, Yes, Interpol, The Flaming Lips, [4] Johnny Cash, The Bee Gees, Burt Bacharach, Cyndi Lauper and Black Sabbath. Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo includes a cover of Queen's "We Are the Champions" along with the jazz standard "My Funny Valentine". Suspicious Activity? contains a cover of the theme from "Chariots of Fire", while a version of "Karma Police" by Radiohead appeared on the 2006 album Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads . The band has said that they changed their sound a little bit for their sixth album, For All I Care. [5]
On April 10, 2017, the band released a statement that Ethan Iverson would part ways with the band at the end of 2017, with Orrin Evans replacing him on piano starting January 1, 2018. [6]
On March 13, 2021, the band posted news on social media that Orrin Evans would be leaving the band to "pursue the music under his own name and will be closing his chapter with The Bad Plus." They noted that the band would no longer be a "piano trio (for now, at least)" and that "they are looking forward to expanding the ensemble as they work on creating music for their next record." [7] [8]
In August 2021, the band revealed a new lineup featuring guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed. [9] They released a new album, entitled simply The Bad Plus, on September 30, 2022. [10]
Clifford Benjamin Brown was an American jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car crash, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", and "Daahoud" have become jazz standards. Brown won the DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll for New Star of the Year in 1954; he was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1972.
Tim Berne is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.
Silje Nergaard is a Norwegian jazz vocalist and songwriter. She is one of the best-selling jazz artists on the official sales chart in Norway. She became known worldwide after the release of the international bestseller Tell Me Where You're Going featuring Pat Metheny on guitar.
Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the Sextet's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was awarded an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2009.
Helen Merrill is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording Helen Merrill, was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation of bebop jazz musicians. After an active 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent time recording and touring in Europe and Japan, falling into obscurity in the United States. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was recorded by EmArcy, JVC and Verve, and her performances in America revived her profile. Known for her emotional, sensual vocal performances, she continues to perform today, her career now in its sixth decade of concerts and recordings.
Suspicious Activity? is the fourth studio album by the American jazz band The Bad Plus. The band had previously garnered attention for covering well-known rock songs in an "acoustic power trio" style, but Suspicious Activity? includes only one cover version: the theme to the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire. Instead, the album focuses on the band's original music, including the track "O.G. ," which is a tribute to the legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones.
These Are the Vistas was the second studio album released by the jazz trio The Bad Plus, and the band's first album for a major label. The album was the listening public's first widespread opportunity to hear the band, which Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal called a "jazz power trio with a rock-and-roll heart." The album features several cover songs: Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and Aphex Twin's "Flim". In November 2009, NPR's All Songs Considered selected the album as one of the 50 "most important" recordings of the decade.
Chris Speed is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
Reid Anderson is a bassist and composer from Minnesota. He is a member of The Bad Plus with drummer Dave King, saxophonist Chris Speed, and guitarist Ben Monder. The original lineup of The Bad Plus first played together in 1989 and formally established the band in 2000. Anderson attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.
Orrin Evans is an American jazz pianist. Evans was born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia. He attended Rutgers University, and then studied with Kenny Barron. He worked as a sideman for Bobby Watson, Ralph Peterson, Duane Eubanks, and Lenora Zenzalai-Helm, and released his debut as a leader in 1994. He signed with Criss Cross Jazz in 1997, recording prolifically with the label. He was awarded a 2010 Pew Fellowships in the Arts.
For All I Care is a studio album by American jazz trio The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis on vocals. The album was released in Europe on October 20, 2008, by EmArcy and in the U.S. on February 3, 2009, by Heads Up. This is the first Bad Plus album to include a vocalist, as well as the first to feature no original songs. Although the Bad Plus are known for playing cover versions of rock songs, this is their first album with nothing but cover songs, including a few 20th-century classical pieces. David King explained to Star Tribune that the main inspiration for the record was the seminal 1963 album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. As he mentioned, "The band still played like it was the John Coltrane Quartet, with or without Hartman. That's what we really aimed for."
Rebekka Bakken is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer who is often associated with jazz, although she refuses to characterise herself as a jazz musician. Her voice reaches over three octaves.
Bill McHenry is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the leader of the Bill McHenry Quartet and has released over a dozen albums under his own name, in addition to collaborating on many more.
The Rite of Spring is a 2014 studio album by American jazz trio The Bad Plus. It is the group's ninth studio album. It is an interpretation of the Igor Stravinsky orchestral composition.
Inevitable Western is a 2014 album by jazz trio The Bad Plus. It is the group's tenth studio album and it only contains original compositions. The rear CD insert features a photo of "Big Tex", the marketing icon of the State Fair of Texas.
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman is a 2015 album by jazz trio The Bad Plus and saxophonist Joshua Redman. The album was generally positively received, achieving a Metacritic score of 84%.
It's Hard is a 2016 studio album by American jazz trio The Bad Plus released by Okeh Records label. It is the group's twelfth studio album, and contains only covers. Allmusic selected it as one of their Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016.
Never Stop II is the thirteenth studio album by American jazz trio The Bad Plus, released on January 19, 2018 by Legbreaker Records label.
Activate Infinity is an album by American jazz trio The Bad Plus that was released by Edition on October 25, 2019. The album contains eight original compositions written by band members.
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