THE BAD PLUS
The Bad Plus — bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King — have a well-earned reputation for pushing the limits on what is expected of a piano-bass-drums trio. The past 15 years have seen the genre-smashing band create a distinctive and original repertoire of inventive and exciting original music, along with iconoclastic covers of artists as divergent as Nirvana and Neil Young, Aphex Twin and Ornette Coleman. Earlier this year, the acclaimed trio took on one of the most influential works of the 20th (Sony Music Masterworks).
The Bad Plus’ tenth studio recording, Inevitable Western, is comprised entirely of originals and continues the band’s committed belief in what Nate Chinen of The New York Times dubbed ‘avant-garde populism’ — the idea that serious music can be as engaging and accessible as it is forward-thinking and provocative. Inevitable Western sees the group exploring the same set of aesthetic principles that fired their inception: an exploration of myriad musical forms born of jazz and advanced using any sonic source that forwards music that is uniquely The Bad Plus. The spark continues on tracks like Anderson’s lyrical “Do It Again” and the post-rock twists and turns of King’s “Gold Prisms Incorporated.” This is an album where pop, blues and folk meld with classic melodies and rhythmic innovation into that rarest of hybrids: intelligent music for the masses.
A genuinely leaderless trio, The Bad Plus is equal in every respect, from composition to performance to production. The interplay between these collaborators has marked the group’s work from the jump, infusing it with carefully considered spontaneity, subtlety, style, and depth. An intense emotional twang permeates pieces like King’s “Adopted Highway” and the Iverson composition which gives Inevitable Western its title, evokes a spacious milieu redolent of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas and the American West of Richard Avedon, dusty and open, weathered but free. Rich with mystery, Inevitable Western is The Bad Plus at their best, affirming them as one of the most audacious and imaginative musical collectives of this or any other era.
BRIEF HISTORY
The Bad Plus came together at the end of the 20th century and has avoided easy categorization ever since, winning critical hosannas and a legion of fans worldwide with their creativity, unique sound and flair for live performance. Based in New York City, the intensely collaborative trio has constantly searched for rules to break and boundaries to cross, bridging genres and techniques while exploring the infinite possibilities of three exceptional musicians working in perfect sync. The Bad Plus' 10th studio recording, Inevitable Western, sees bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King further honing the same conceptual base that fired their inception. Yet again they continue to explore myriad musical forms born of jazz along with any sonic source that forwards music that is uniquely The Bad Plus. Inevitable Western is an album where pop, blues, and folk meld with classic melodies and rhythmic innovation into that rarest of hybrids: intelligent music for the masses. THE BAD PLUS PERFORMS THE ORNETTE COLEMAN MASTERPIECE SCIENCE FICTION – WITH RON MILES, TIM BERNE, AND SAM NEWSOME
Ornette Coleman’s 1972 album Science Fiction is widely considered a landmark recording—and especially so for the members of The Bad Plus. Coleman’s singular combination of melodic beauty and avant-garde openness is enhanced by overdubs, vocals and a sonic production unlike any other jazz recording in existence. Science Fiction boldly insists on new spectrums of music that are possible.
After his famous early albums on Atlantic, Coleman reached an apex during the years of 1969-1972, when his core quartet consisted of Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell. Bebop, European modernism and free rhythms were all assimilated and liquefied. Although Coleman’s first quartet with Don Cherry and Billy Higgins was such a success on their debut at the Five Spot in 1959, this new group’s sound had a howling, epic quality – a quality hard to confine to smaller spaces. This sound was meant for the concert hall.
Science Fiction was the outcome of the new band’s single sojourn into a proper studio. The epic quality is captured by huge amplified bass and a weirdly “split” alto tone, almost as if Coleman is double- tracked. The album is a joyous assemblage of all the best musicians associated with Coleman – not just the 1969-1972 quartet, but included Cherry, Higgins and Bobby Bradford too. For the first time ever Coleman took on lyrics in a recording and thanks to Asha Puthli, the results are as memorable as the instrumental melodies.
What reason could I give to live Only that I love you How many times must I die for love Only when I’m without you Where will the clouds be If not in the sky When I die
Science Fiction was the last record of Coleman’s with his peers for the remainder of the decade. Foreshadowed by the Science Fiction song “Rock the Clock”, his next musical foray was with his group Prime Time which featured electric guitars, electric basses and drummers delivering dance beats.
There have been many attempts at reinterpreting the classic acoustic music of Ornette Coleman. One extreme is the approach taken by John Zorn on Spy vs. Spy – loud, aggressive, punk. Another was recently embodied by a concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center where a big band read complicated arrangements of the tunes over a rhythm section emulating the style (but not the spirit) of Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins.
As long as Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson and David King have been making music together, Science Fiction has been one of their touchstone records. One afternoon at a radio promo when King suggested The Bad Plus play “Street Woman”, the band didn’t hesitate to rehearse or discuss interpretation. No emulation of style was possible. Instead, the music simply fell out of the trio with complete naturalness.
Coleman’s compositions are too beautiful not to be treated with devoted respect. However, the last thing Coleman himself would want is a simple simulacrum of his style. (As a bandleader, Coleman has never hired musicians that imitate his early collaborators.) Science Fiction in particular boldly insists that any kind of music is possible. It is up to the interpreter to play themselves through Coleman’s melodies.
The Bad Plus has been widely heralded for their innovative re-workings of rock, indie-rock, electronica, and modernist classical music. The group recently tackled Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in the multi-media production ON SACRED GROUND (co-commissioned by Duke Performances and Lincoln Center), and in the wake of fruitful collaborations with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and Mark Morris, The Bad Plus now turn to a jazz classic with Science Fiction to honor the great master of jazz avant-garde. No strangers to the music of Ornette Coleman, the band had the opportunity to perform selections from Science Fiction at the Walker Arts Center with Coleman himself in the audience. Coleman praised their ability to interpret his own music and artistic philosophy with the signature Bad Plus style, calling it “The performance I enjoyed most…they all sounded like individuals in the way they expressed it for themselves.”
Since the original album features a substantial horn presence, The Bad Plus is teaming up with an additional trio of accomplished musicians from three generations of jazz. Saxophonist Tim Berne is an elder who was a crucial early influence of The Bad Plus, saxophonist Sam Newsome is a peer renowned for both his solo concerts and recordings throughout a very unique career, and trumpeter Ron Miles has had a prodigious career as a bandleader and collaborator with the likes of Bill Frisell.
There will be vocals and possibly an electronic element as the vision of Ornette Coleman is explored by an extraordinary grouping of musicians.
“Searching for beauty” will be the ensemble’s prime directive.