Are
the Bad Plus a pop- and rock-influenced jazz trio? Or are they a power
trio who like to play jazz? It's really a bit of both. But in the brave
new world of postmodern jazz, identity crises are encouraged. Reid
Anderson (bass) and David King (drums) grew up in Minnesota, while
pianist Ethan Iverson spent his formative years in Wisconsin.
Eventually, after crossing paths in such unlikely places as high school
rock showcases and tentative free jazz performances inside
upper-Midwestern diners, the three first performed as the Bad Plus in
1990; but they would spend the '90s embracing separate influences, each
musician developing a unique musical language that would gestate into
the Bad Plus' iconoclastic jazz template. Anderson released three
albums on the Spanish indie Fresh Sound; Iverson was music director of
New York City's prestigious Mark Morris Dance Group; and King worked
with his Happy Apple combo, as well as 12 Rods.
In August of 2001, the trio put aside their other projects and
released The Bad Plus through Fresh Sound. It established them as a
group unafraid to stray from the confines of jazz, but confident enough
in their forays to make them stimulating, and not simply novelties. The
debut was a critical success, garnering best-of honors from the New
York Times and Chicago Reader, among others. An "official" bootleg
followed in 2002, eventually going out of print. It was a particularly
memorable performance at New York's Village Vanguard that led Columbia
Records to sign the Bad Plus; in February of 2003, the label released
These Are the Vistas which was produced by stranger-to-jazz and
ex-Latin Playboy Tchad Blake. The album presented original compositions
from each musician, as well as a few ringers from the musical world
outside the borders of jazz. Their re-imaginations of "Smells Like Teen
Spirit" (which Iverson had reportedly never heard before), Blondie's
"Heart of Glass," and Aphex Twin's "Flim" caused tails to wag, but it
was the trio's powerful mixture of personality and performance that
really defined them. The Bad Plus toured throughout spring and summer
2003 in support of their major-label debut. The band's second album,
Give followed in spring 2004. For 2005's Suspicious Activity?, the band
produced with album with Tchad Blake at RealWorld Studios in England.
PROG followed in 2007.
