The Bad Plus are the ultimate originals. A democratic unit with a clear vision and a refusal to conform to convention. For the past two decades, they have played with spirit and adventure, made their own rules and done so with a bold sense of creativity and intent. In 2018 they announced a change of line-up that shook the jazz world, bringing the astonishing and remarkable pianist Orrin Evans into the group alongside Reid Anderson and Dave King. The result instigated a new wave of excitement and anticipation within the band that re-energized their sound and inspiration. With an abundance of adventure and spirit, their joy of making music together is clear and paramount – it’s their driving force and their ultimate purpose.
Their first album with the new lineup, 2018’s Never Stop II, won huge critical acclaim building on the passionate fan base developed over the years. The release kickstarted a new era for the trio in a way they could not have foreseen – a period of intense creativity, renewed energy and excitement.
Their October 25th, 2019, Edition Records release, Activate Infinity, sees the journey evolve further.
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The Bad Plus | Full Performance On KNKX Public Radio (Embed)
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BIOGRAPHY/PROGRAM NOTES
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Official Website: www.thebadplus.com
CURRENT RELEASE
Activate Infinity (Edition Records, October 25, 2019)
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The Many Sounds of Jazz in 2019: A Listener’s Guide
From Rolling Stone The Many Sounds of Jazz in 2019: A Listener’s Guide By:HANK SHTEAMER “After their 2018 triumph Never Stop II, the Bad Plus kept their momentum going on Activate Infinity, the trio’s second album with pianist Orrin Evans. The record reaffirmed that the personnel switch hasn’t shifted their focus away from beguiling jazz-prog-pop gems that sound at once...
Posted Dec 11th, 2019
Listen to The Bad Plus Live from Scullers on WGBH
From WGBH The Bad Plus – Live from Scullers “The Bad Plus premiere music from their new collection Activate Infinity for this installment of Live from Scullers Jazz Club Friday, October 25, 2019.” Click here to read more
Posted Nov 4th, 2019
The Bad Plus Activate Infinity Out Now
“Activate Infinity is the second album from New York based The Bad Plus since the remarkable pianist Orrin Evans joined the trio back in 2018. With their sights set on a new trajectory, combined with an abundance of spirit and creativity, the trio have produced one of their finest and most original albums to date. This is group music played...
Posted Oct 25th, 2019
The Bad Plus Featured on The New York Times Playlist
From The New York Times The Playlist: Frank Ocean’s Pillow Talk, and 12 More New Songs By: JON PARELES, JON CARAMANICA, CARYN GANZ AND GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO “Orrin Evans has a long personal history with Reid Anderson, the Bad Plus’s bassist, but it is his rapport with the drummer Dave King ‘” and King’s hyper, trouncing style ‘” that gives the...
Posted Oct 25th, 2019
Everything is Adding Up for The Bad Plus
The Boston Globe Everything is adding up for the Bad Plus By Bill Beuttler “Reminded that it had been nearly two years since Orrin Evans replaced original pianist Ethan Iverson in the collaborative trio the Bad Plus, bassist Reid Anderson replies with a chuckle, ‘Yeah, gosh. Time flies.’ The reconstituted and re-energized Bad Plus ‘” Anderson, Evans, and drummer Dave...
Posted Oct 24th, 2019
Hear the Latest From The Bad Plus
From WBGO Hear the Latest From Miles Okazaki’s Trickster, The Bad Plus, Junius Paul & More, in Take Five By: NATE CHINEN “The last time we greeted a studio album by The Bad Plus, continuity was the main item on the agenda. The album, Never Stop II, marked a new chapter for the band, as Orrin Evans took over the...
Posted Oct 21st, 2019
Fall Preview 2019: The Best in Jazz Across the Board
From WBGO Fall Preview 2019: The Best in Jazz Across the Board, From Fresh Faces to Reigning Masters By: EDITOR “Activate Infinity is the second album by this fiercely cohesive band since Orrin Evans moved into the piano chair vacated by Ethan Iverson. But whereas Never Stop II suggested a leap of faith, this new effort comes after months of...
Posted Sep 10th, 2019
Interview with The Bad Plus’s Rob Duguay
From The Independent The Bad Plus put their own spin on things ahead of Jazz Festival By: ROB DUGUAY SPECIAL TO THE INDEPENDENT “Happening at Fort Adams State Park from today to Sunday, the Newport Jazz Festival highlights a timeless style of music. There’s a case to be made and this is the biggest festival of its kind in the...
Posted Aug 1st, 2019
The Bad Plus’ ‘Family-Style Art Project’
From The Pittsburgh Current With Pianist Orrin Evans, Jazz Trio The Bad Plus Continues Its ‘Family-Style Art Project’ By: Mike Shanley Throughout its existence, the Bad Plus has continually challenged the expectations of what a piano trio should sound like. While many jazz groups revolve around a leader who calls the shots, Bad Plus members Ethan Iverson (piano), Dave King...
Posted Jan 21st, 2019
The Bad Plus Brings New Look and Sound
From Twin Cities Pioneer Press Jazz Trio the Bad Plus brings its new look and sound to the Dakota By: Dan Emerson Jazz trio the Bad Plus, which has been performing at the Dakota jazz club since its inception in 2000, came to the Minneapolis club with a new look this week. Co-founder Ethan Iverson is no longer occupying the...
Posted Dec 26th, 2018
2018 Jazz: Impossible to Characterize
From The Philadelphia Inquirer The best part about jazz in 2018? It was impossible to characterize. By: Shaun Brady Though it’s always been the case to some extent, jazz has increasingly become more an approach to creating music than an easily definable style. Scanning over the year’s standout jazz releases, what’s most impressive is the divergent paths they take, each...
Posted Dec 14th, 2018
Musical Partners in Crime
From The Lexington Herald Leader Jazz at the children’s theatre? These ‘musical partners in crime’ are playing there. By: Walter Tunis The Minneapolis-rooted jazz troupe, which performs at the Lexington Children’s Theatre on Dec. 9 as part of the Origins Jazz Series, has flipped the sound, as well as the repertoire, of the conventional piano trio on its ear with...
Posted Dec 6th, 2018
20 Best Jazz Albums of 2018
From Rolling Stone 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2018 By: Hank Shteamer Congratulations to Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano, and The Bad Plus for making Rolling Stone’s top 20 list this year! 1. The Bad Plus, Never Stop II During their initial 17-year run, the Bad Plus built up a reputation as one of the most tight-knit groups in contemporary jazz,...
Posted Dec 4th, 2018
We Saw It on Jazz Street
From NYS Music And To Think We Saw It On Jazz Street: The 2018 Xerox International Jazz Festival, Reviewed By: Eli Stein Most days of the year, Gibbs Street in Rochester’s East End is a quiet side street you’d drive by without taking much notice. Though for 9 days in late June, it gets renamed Jazz Street and the surrounding...
Posted Jul 7th, 2018
‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘DownBeat’ Celebrate The Bad Plus
From Broadway World Rolling Stone and Downbeat Celebrate The Bad Plus After Release of 13th Album NEVER STOP II The Bad Plus is having a banner year highlighted by the release of their widely acclaimed 13th studio recording, NEVER STOP II. The first Bad Plus LP to feature pianist Orrin Evans alongside founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King...
Posted Jul 2nd, 2018
50 Best Albums of 2018 (So Far)
From Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2018 So Far The Bad Plus, ‘Never Stop II’ Since forming in 2000, the Bad Plus have grown from upstart into institution, one of the few contemporary jazz acts to show up on the mainstream radar in the years before the To Pimp a Butterfly watershed. … As on past efforts, it’s bassist...
Posted Jun 14th, 2018
Jazz Night in America: The Band That Never Stops
From NPR It isn’t typically news when a jazz group makes a change in personnel. But The Bad Plus isn’t a typical jazz group, and its announcement, this time last year, landed like a bombshell. In short: Ethan Iverson, the band’s pianist, would be leaving to pursue his own projects. Orrin Evans, an esteemed peer, would be stepping in. For...
Posted May 10th, 2018
The Bad Plus: Goodbye, Hello
From JazzTimes The Bad Plus: Goodbye, Hello: David Fricke says farewell to the original Bad Plus during their final Village Vanguard run’“and looks forward to the band’s bold new era By: David Fricke […] Spending the week approaching New Year’s Eve at the Vanguard had become a tradition for the Bad Plus. This stand was Iverson’s last’“a final holiday round...
Posted Apr 4th, 2018
The Bad Plus at Blues Alley
From DC Music Review The Bad Plus Comes to Blues Alley In Washington DC By: Jason Herman The Bad Touch kicked off their 2018 Spring Tour in Washington DC with a three-day, six-performance appearance at Blues Alley in Georgetown on March 9, 2018. The audience contained a diverse mix of band and jazz enthusiasts from the surrounding area. The Bad...
Posted Mar 14th, 2018
The Bad Plus Sounds Sublime
From The Washington Post The Bad Plus 2.0 sounds as sublime as the 1.0 version By: Michael J West Five months after the Bad Plus 1.0’s farewell D.C. appearance, the Bad Plus 2.0 made their debut D.C. appearance: Friday night at Blues Alley. The difference was substantial. […] With the new lineup, all ears were on Evans ‘” what he...
Posted Mar 12th, 2018
The Bad Plus Welcomes Orrin Evans
From The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphian Orrin Evans joins jazz greats the Bad Plus. Here’s why that’s a big deal. By: Shaun Brady Early last April, Orrin Evans stopped by my table at the Broad Street jazz club South to deliver some news: ‘I’ve joined the Bad Plus.’ […] It was true: Iverson was leaving, and Philly’s own Evans was the...
Posted Mar 11th, 2018
NPR: “Jolted Alive” with The Bad Plus
From NPR: All Things Considered Bad Plus Seems Jolted Alive On ‘Never Stop II’ By: Tom Moon […] The core idea behind The Bad Plus is that there is no leader. It’s almost an avant garde collective, a fluid environment in which players frequently shift roles between foreground and background. What happens when a new character slides into the mix?...
Posted Feb 7th, 2018
The Bad Plus: Keeps the Jam Jazz Flowing
From the Chicago Tribune The Bad Plus Keeps the Jazz Jams Flowing By: Steve Knopper The first time pianist Orrin Evans sat down with his new jazz trio, the Bad Plus, about a year ago in Brooklyn, N.Y., bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King picked a 14-year-old original, ‘Big Eater,’ which they’d played repeatedly and knew intimately. ‘You could...
Posted Jan 29th, 2018
Burning Ambulance Podcast: Orrin Evans
From Burning Ambulance Podcast Episode 9: Orrin Evans By: Phil Freeman The ninth episode of the Burning Ambulance podcast features Orrin Evans, who’s been a solo artist for about 20 years, but is gaining a brand-new audience as the new pianist’“replacing Ethan Iverson’“in the long-running trio The Bad Plus. In this conversation, taped in early January, we discuss his early...
Posted Jan 29th, 2018
The Bad Plus: Jazz Standouts
From The Rolling Stone Review: Jazz Standouts the Bad Plus Weather a Lineup Change With Grace on ‘Never Stop II’ By: Hank Shteamer Never Stop ‘” The Bad Plus’ first album of all originals, and also their strongest full-length up to that point ‘” was an obvious mid-career milestone. The sequel is another. The Bad Plus’ third covers-free set, it’s...
Posted Jan 19th, 2018
NPR First Listen: The Bad Plus
From NPR First Listen: The Bad Plus, ‘Never Stop II’ By: Nate Chinen A continuity and a break: That’s the history of The Bad Plus in a nutshell. An acoustic piano trio with the combustion properties of a post-punk band, it emerged in the early 2000s to an uproar ‘” its surging attack and shrewd repertoire were framed as a...
Posted Jan 11th, 2018
New Year’s Eve at Village Vanguard
From Downbeat News Iverson Plays Final Show with Bad Plus By: Phillip Lutz Amid the flow of good cheer and finger food’“the latter a rarity for the famously foodless Vanguard’“the three musicians were operating at full tilt, making a case for their legacy as one of the millennium’s first, and most salient, innovators of the piano-bass-drums format. The evening offered...
Posted Jan 3rd, 2018
KNKX: The Bad Plus – Live Studio Session
From KNKX KNKX: The Bad Plus – Live Studio Session By: Abe Beeson They may be the longest running jazz trio in history without a line-up change, but after 17 years The Bad Plus will see a new face behind the piano in the New Year. On their final trip to Seattle together, they stopped by our studios to celebrate...
Posted Nov 9th, 2017
The Bad Plus Is Gorgeously Idiosyncratic
From The Washington Post The Bad Plus Is Gorgeously Idiosyncratic at the Hamilton By: Michael J. West When the Bad Plus played its first D.C. gig, at Blues Alley in 2001, the band was the new big thing in jazz ‘” but also something of a novelty. Here was an acoustic piano trio covering Nirvana, Aphex Twin and Blondie, both...
Posted Oct 4th, 2017
Reid Anderson discusses The Bad Plus
From Daily Times Entertainment Jazz trio Bad Plus makes final Philly area performance with Ethan Iverson By: Brian Bingaman Over the past 17 years, the irreverent power trio came to be known for their creativity, flair for live performance and unexpected reinventions of songs like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Comfortably Numb’ and Vangelis’ ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme. ‘There’s...
Posted Sep 29th, 2017
Equality On All Levels
From La Presse The Bad More … or less … or more By: Alain Brunet On the march since the dawn of the previous decade, The Bad Plus takes a last time to Montreal in its original configuration; Last spring, pianist Ethan Iverson announced that he was leaving the famous trio from Minnesota to carry out his own projects. Equality...
Posted Jun 30th, 2017
The Bad Plus Woos Crowd
From Ottawa Citizen Jazzfest review: The Bad Plus woos crowd with eclectic, left-of-centre sounds By: Peter Hum While the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra was stranded in New York on Wednesday due to a flight snafu, The Bad Plus was a more than worthy substitute in Confederation Park on the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival’s main stage. ‘Charlie Haden was a...
Posted Jun 29th, 2017
A Message to Fans and Followers
A message from The Bad Plus to our fans and followers: We will soon begin an exciting new chapter in our life as a band. As of January 1, 2018, The Bad Plus will consist of founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) and new member Orrin Evans (piano). Original pianist Ethan Iverson will finish out the 2017...
Posted Apr 11th, 2017
The Bad Plus Redefines Jazz
Luther College Chips The Bad Plus Redefines Jazz By: Shasa Sartin A New York City-based and Twin Cities-bred jazz trio The Bad Plus performed in the Center for Faith and Life (CFL) on April 7. David King played drums, Ethan Iverson played piano, and Reid Anderson played the bass. ‘I thought it was pretty complex stuff,’ attendee Andrew Bien (‘17)...
Posted Apr 11th, 2017
Philly Jazz Pianist Orrin Evans Joins The Bad Plus
From The Philadelphia Inquirer Philly jazz pianist Orrin Evans joins famed jazz trio The Bad Plus By: Nick Vadala Evans, a former instructor at the Germantown Friends School known for his work with Tarbaby and the Captain Black Big Band, will debut with the group in Jan. 2018 at a gig in St. Louis, according to WGBO. He will also...
Posted Apr 11th, 2017
The Bad Plus brings jazz reimaginings of pop, rock hits to Jefferson Center
From The Roanoke Times The Bad Plus brings jazz reimaginings of pop, rock hits to Jefferson Center By: Tad Dickens Sometimes, the best creative partnerships are born out of simple curiosity. The Bad Plus, which hits Jefferson Center on Thursday, is a good example. Bassist Reid Anderson, drummer Dave King and pianist Ethan Iverson ‘” all from the Minneapolis area...
Posted Mar 27th, 2017
8 Great Jazz Covers of Pop Songs
From Paste 8 Great Jazz Covers of Pop Songs By: Alexa Peters Over the last few years, jazzy covers of modern-day pop tunes with accompanying 1920s-style videos have been trending all over the internet. Many of these covers come from a project by pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee, who releases videos under the moniker Postmodern Jukebox that feature modern musicians...
Posted Mar 1st, 2017
The Bad Plus Deliver the Goods
From NYS Music The Bad Plus Deliver the Goods at the Egg By: Neil Benjamin Jr. The Swyer Theater at the Egg Center for the Performing Arts is a quaint and ideal setting for laid back musical performances. When The Bad Plus, a three-piece jazz band originally from Minneapolis but now out of New York City, visited the Swyer on...
Posted Feb 24th, 2017
The Bad Plus plays the unexpected in Bend
From The Bulletin The Bad Plus plays the unexpected in Bend By: Brian McElhiney After nearly two decades, there’s a pretty standard set of accolades music-industry-geek types use to describe piano-bass-drums jazz trio The Bad Plus. Usually it’s ‘boundary pushing,’ or ‘genre blending,’ or some variation on that theme. And usually it’s due to the band’s esoteric takes on popular...
Posted Jan 20th, 2017
Jazz Renegades in the Bad Plus Have No Leader
From Westword Jazz Renegades in the Bad Plus Have No Leader By: Ben Salmon Celebrated American jazz trio the Bad Plus knows no limits when it comes to taking on a variety of sounds, styles and genres. Riffing on other people’s tunes is nothing new in jazz, but the breadth of musical interests that bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson...
Posted Jan 11th, 2017
The Best Jazz Albums We Missed in 2016
From The Observer The Best Jazz Albums We Missed in 2016 By: Ron Hart Curating a list as wide and varied as our effort to catalogue the 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2016 was no easy feat. We all have our blind spots. And while I wouldn’t change the order or the lineup of our ranking one iota, it’s only...
Posted Jan 6th, 2017
The Bad Plus’ “scandalous” and “innovative” covers
From The Cincinnati Enquirer Bad Plus: It’s not a cover if it’s appropriation By: Chris Varias The Bad Plus is a next-level cover band. Or they’re not really a cover band at all. The leaderless jazz trio made a splash in 2003 with its first Columbia Records album, which included a go at Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Team Spirit.’ It was...
Posted Dec 7th, 2016
The Bad Plus: It’s Hard
From Relix The Bad Plus: It’s Hard By: Richard Gehr Back in Grandpa’s day, jazz groups regularly looked to the pop charts for material. And that was The Bad Plus’ conceit when the practically perfect trio consisting of Ethan Iverson (piano), Dave King (drums) and Reid Anderson (bass) began recording together in 2001. After four albums of original music, the...
Posted Nov 11th, 2016
The Bad Plus: Music with a Capital “M”
From PopMatters Music with a Capital “M” An Interview with Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus By: Noah Harrison The Bad Plus may not always play by the rules, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t come up with their own rules. The limber, Minneapolis-born trio of bassist, drummer, and pianist have played on the same stage for 15 years, and...
Posted Sep 14th, 2016
The Bad Plus go back to their roots
From The Associated Press Review: The Bad Plus go back to their roots on new CD By: Charles J. Gans The Bad Plus, ‘It’s Hard’ (Okeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks) After focusing mostly on original music on their last four albums, The Bad Plus goes back to their roots on ‘It’s Hard’ with an album of distinctly original covers that recast...
Posted Sep 9th, 2016
The Bad Plus Tests Jazz’s Boundaries
From The Observer The Bad Plus Tests Jazz’s Boundaries by Exploding the Art of the Cover Song By: Jim Farber The latest album from The Bad Plus could double as an episode of Name That Tune! Play it for your friends, without revealing the song titles, and minutes could click by before anyone guesses the well-known melody being covered. ‘Traditionally,...
Posted Aug 25th, 2016
First Listen: The Bad Plus, ‘It’s Hard’
From NPR First Listen: The Bad Plus, ‘It’s Hard’ By: Patrick Jarenwattananon Here’s a tip for jazz musicians that works better than it should: If you wish to be noticed by people who use words, play some covers. Not standards, but songs from a more recent era of popular music, or something else left-field. Even today, it stands out from...
Posted Aug 18th, 2016
5 Acts Not to Miss at Newport Jazz Fest
From The Providence Journal 5 acts not to miss at the Newport Jazz Festival By: Andy Smith The Bad Plus Here’s a recommendation from Danny Melnick, who was promoted this year from associate producer to producer of the jazz festival. The Bad Plus is an innovative New York City trio consisting of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer...
Posted Jul 28th, 2016
New Music From The Bad Plus!
From The Wall Street Journal Listen to the Bad Plus Cover Prince’s ‘The Beautiful Ones’ From the Trio’s Upcoming Album ‘It’s Hard’ (Exclusive) By: Mike Ayers For the first new song from New York City-based jazz trio the Bad Plus’s upcoming album ‘It’s Hard,’ they returned to their Midwestern roots for a cover of Prince’s ‘The Beautiful Ones.’ ‘It has...
Posted Jul 13th, 2016
The Bad Plus: “this is our time”
From Pittsburgh City Paper The Bad Plus takes the traditional piano trio configuration in adventurous directions By: Mike Shanley The Bad Plus landed in the spotlight when Columbia released These Are the Vistas, in 2003. Between compositions by each member of the piano trio, the band reworked Blondie, Aphex Twin and Nirvana. The jazz press, always eager to find the...
Posted Jul 6th, 2016
The Bad Plus brings rock spirit to jazz show
From Duluth News Tribune Music review: Bad Plus brings rock spirit to jazz show By: Mark Nicklawske New York City-based trio the Bad Plus likes to spin jazz music around like the dial of an old FM radio. Musical pieces dash from slow, melancholy melodies to surging bass runs and explosive drum excursions. Tempos change. Music stops. Elements of rock...
Posted Feb 5th, 2016
What NPR Loved at Winter Jazzfest
From NPR What We Loved At Winter Jazzfest 2016 By: Patrick Jarenwattananon Like any music, jazz has its revolutions; its sudden incidents in infrastructure; its disruptive presences of unprecedented sound. Mostly it’s slower than that, though, with years and generations of accretions before it seems to call for new vocabulary. That’s one way to look at Winter Jazzfest, whose latest...
Posted Jan 20th, 2016
The Bad Plus bring finesse, adventurous music to the Dakota
From Twin Cities Pioneer Press The Bad Plus bring finesse, adventurous music to the Dakota By: Dan Emerson Jazz trio The Bad Plus, who performed the third night of their annual, Christmastime four-night stand at the Dakota Sunday night, have been described as a jazz “collective.” It’s a word more commonly associated with the counter-culture of the 1960s (and early...
Posted Jan 4th, 2016
Jazz Trio Bad Plus Brings Its Personal Aesthetic
From CT Now Jazz Trio Bad Plus Bringing Its Personal Aesthetic To Iron Horse By: Michael Hamad The Bad Plus’ original music is equal parts unknowable ‘” a secret code or handshake, with a harmonic and metric language that’s all their own ‘” and open to all: accessible melodies, often played in thirds or octaves between the piano and bass...
Posted Jan 18th, 2015
“Surprise and dynamic contrast reigns” with The Bad Plus
From Express Milwaukee The Bad Plus @ The Jazz Estate By: Kevin Lynch …You begin to see how this group has a broad audience among both open-minded jazz fans and rock-oriented listeners. ‘Elect That’ seems to thumb its nose at the whole electoral process, with King kicking a sharp, literally metallic attack, hitting with the bottoms of his brushes and...
Posted Dec 22nd, 2014
The Bad Plus: Inevitable Western
From Pop Matters The Bad Plus: Inevitable Western By: Will Layman The Bad Plus, the piano/bass/drums jazz trio that has been breaking the mold for about 15 years, returns to its own compositions with Inevitable Western after releasing its version of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ earlier in 2014. That exercise, however, was as ‘Bad Plus’ as anything else they have...
Posted Oct 28th, 2014
“Forward-looking” new music from The Bad Plus
From Audiophile Audition The Bad Plus ‘” Inevitable Western By: Doug Simpson Postmodern jazz trio the Bad Plus have progressed a long way since they issued their 2001 self-titled debut. When the threesome’“bassist Reid Anderson, drummer David King and pianist Ethan Iverson’“began they were infamous for thumping, rock-influenced jazz. Early covers included material by alt-rock icons Nirvana, English heavy-metal masters...
Posted Oct 14th, 2014
The Bad Plus in San Antonio
from PunkSoda.com The Bad Plus in San Antonio By PunkSoda With the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel, The Bad Plus took madness and delivered it to San Antonio on a silver platter. Without a single effect or adjustment to the 3 instruments, they were able to alter mood, texture, rhythm and any other characteristic on a dime. Together. The trio...
Posted Oct 1st, 2014
Bad Plus reinvents Stravinsky Mark Morris Dance Group
from the Contra Costa Times Bad Plus reinvents Stravinsky Mark Morris Dance Group by Contra Costa Times When Mark Morris unveiled his exuberant new version of “The Rite of Spring” last year at Cal Performances, the audience didn’t hear Stravinsky’s iconic score performed by an orchestra. Instead, accompaniment for “Spring, Spring, Spring” was provided by the jazz trio The Bad...
Posted Sep 22nd, 2014
Inevitable Western
From OKeh Records THE BAD PLUS LIFT CURTAIN ON INEVITABLE WESTERN Audacious Piano-Bass-Drums Trio Unveils Self-Produced New Album, Their First Collection Of Original Material Since 2012’s Made Possible US and European Live Dates Slated Through The Fall, Including August Tour Alongside Joshua Redman Inevitable Western Available August 26th New York, NY ‘” OKeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks has announced the release...
Posted Aug 26th, 2014
Preview The Bad Plus’ New Album!
From The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy Blog The Bad Plus Call Their Own Tune on ‘Inevitable Western’ (Exclusive Album Premiere) By: Eric R. Dalton After the Bad Plus tackled an interpretation of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ on their last album, the avant-jazz trio was happy not to have any specific direction in mind for their latest, ‘Inevitable Western.’ The Minneapolis...
Posted Aug 20th, 2014
The Rite of Spring
The Bad Plus Unveils The Rite Of Spring Intrepid Piano-Bass-Drums Trio To Release Long Awaited Recording Of Stravinsky’s Revolutionary Orchestral Work Sony Music Masterworks has announced the release of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, arranged and performed by The Bad Plus. The long anticipated recording arrives in stores and at all leading digital retailers on March 25th. The Bad...
Posted Mar 25th, 2014
The Bad Plus: “jaw-dropping, face-melting, hair-raising, gob-smacking”
From Metroland The Bad Plus By: Josh Potter Over the years, watching the Bad Plus perform has consistently left me breathless. I don’t use that term as a lazy platitude to describe my astonishment at their virtuosity. I mean, I literally hold my breath. On the one hand, yes, the acoustic jazz trio is jaw-dropping, face-melting, hair-raising, gob-smacking. . ....
Posted Feb 14th, 2014
The Bad Plus Signs Multi-Album Deal With Sony Music Masterworks
From PR Newswire The Bad Plus Signs Multi-Album Deal With Sony Music Masterworks NEW ALBUM COMING IN APRIL 2014 “…these bad boys have the musicianship to back up their attitude.” – The New Yorker The Bad Plus has returned to Sony and signed a multi-album deal with Sony Music Masterworks. In April 2014, the label will release the band’s interpretation...
Posted Dec 20th, 2013
The Bad Plus’ Collective Commitment to Their Sound
From Denver Westword The Bad Plus makes good on Made Possible By: Jon Solomon Throughout the history of jazz, groups have been driven by a single leader. But when the Bad Plus formed thirteen years ago, the trio made it a point to be more of a collective. The approach had worked well for drummer Dave King’s group Happy Apple,...
Posted Oct 17th, 2013
The Bad Plus “Will Likely Never Overstay Its Welcome”
From The Montreal Gazette Montreal International Jazz Festival 2013: The Bad Plus at Gesù Theatre; July 1, 2013 By: Erik Leijon The dry-witted Anderson may have said it during a funny singing interlude ‘” in the same song he directed everyone to the merch table ‘” but he’s not wrong: The Bad Plus are festival mainstays, and thanks to their...
Posted Jul 8th, 2013
Live Review: The Bad Plus at Colston Hall
from classical-music.com (The official website of BBC Music Magazine) Neil McKim enjoys a Bristol concert by jazz misfits The Bad Plus by Neil McKim This was one of the most good-humoured concerts I have seen for a long time‘¦ and for the right reasons. The audience was in stitches after a five-minute meandering introduction to a song, apparently inspired by...
Posted May 14th, 2013
The Bad Plus (Plus One)
From The Los Angeles Times Review: Brad Mehldau, the Bad Plus push jazz further ahead at UCLA By: Chris Barton There was no shortage of curiosity going into headliners the Bad Plus, which was paired with a special guest in Joshua Redman. Redman’s the son of avant-garde saxophonist Dewey (who also recorded with Haden), and his gifts have been well...
Posted May 6th, 2013
The Bad Plus: The Difference Between Jazz & Rock Bands
From SF Weekly The Bad Plus’ Dave King on How Touring in a Jazz Band Is Different From Touring in a Rock Band By: Casey Burchby The Bad Plus visits the Bay Area on a regular basis, and we are grateful for this. As drummer Dave King told us in a recent conversation, that feeling is mutual. “San Francisco is...
Posted May 1st, 2013
Primer: The Bad Plus
From Williamette Week Primer: The Bad Plus By: Brett Campbell Formed: In 2000 in Minneapolis. Sounds like: Classically trained piano meets indie-rock drums meets jazz bass. For fans of: Blondie, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Motian, Flaming Lips, Abba, Joshua Redman, Nirvana, Neil Young, Ornette Coleman, the Pixies, Bill Frisell, David Bowie, Herb Alpert, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Heart’“the Plus have covered...
Posted Apr 24th, 2013
The Bad Plus and Bill Frisell
From The New York Times Quirks and All, a Group Welcomes a Playmate By: Ben Ratliff The Bad Plus is an odd bird. The three members of this trio individually lean on specific languages of jazz improvisation, but collectively the band hesitates to get close to any single tradition. It likes to build a crescendo past the point of comfort,...
Posted Apr 15th, 2013
The “Unified Sound” of The Bad Plus
From Playbill Arts The Bad Plus By: Scott H. Thompson For more than a dozen years, The Bad Plus has pushed the boundaries of what we have come to know as the jazz trio, playing everything from David Bowie to Pink Floyd as part of their repertoire. With Ethan Iverson on piano, Reid Anderson on bass, and Dave King on...
Posted Mar 29th, 2013
The Bad Plus Takes a Unique Path
From The Pittsburgh Tribune Bad Plus taking a unique path to music By: Bob Karlovits Calling the Bad Plus a jazz trio is too simple a description. Sure, there are three members of the band, and they are in the traditional piano-bass-drums setting. But the group’s approach to music and even song-writing is so different it is nearly in a...
Posted Feb 4th, 2013
The Bad Plus Finds Strength in Give & Take
From The Pittsburgh Tribune The Bad Plus finds its strength in give and take By: Bob Karlovits Drummer David King says he is breathing a little easier now that The Bad Plus has passed through the days when it ‘took all the heat’ for is forward-looking programming. A little over a decade ago, the group was making itself known recording...
Posted Jan 31st, 2013
The Bad Plus Perches on Genre’s Edge
From The Columbia Daily Tribune Trio perches on genre’s edge with deep catalog, wild covers By: Aarik Danielsen The Bad Plus is not your grandfather’s piano trio. Unless, of course, your grandfather was a mad genius capable of both stark-raving soliloquies and lucid moments of wisdom. In that case, he’d likely love the Minnesota outfit. “Are The Bad Plus a...
Posted Jan 21st, 2013
The Bad Plus Continues A Tradition
From KDHX The Bad Plus continues a January tradition at Jazz at the Bistro By: Wil Wander ‘January has officially arrived because the Bad Plus is in St. Louis,’ remarked Jazz at the Bistro’s Bob Bennett as he introduced the trio on this, their seventh annual stay at the prized listening room. By the time the band finishes its current...
Posted Jan 17th, 2013
The Bad Plus Balances Jazz, Rock and Originality
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch The Bad Plus balances jazz, rock and originality By: Calvin Wilson In the jazz world, there’s no shortage of piano-bass-drums trios. It’s a configuration that has accommodated pianists from the introspective Bill Evans to the explosive Bud Powell. Still, the Bad Plus ‘” which makes its annual pilgrimage to Jazz at the Bistro next week ‘”...
Posted Jan 14th, 2013
The Bad Plus: Highlighted in Jazz 2012 Review
From Austinist Jazz 2012: A Year in Review By: Dan Lothringer Best Touring Performance: Joan Jonas and Jason Moran One of the most exciting performance all year hands-down was ‘The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things,’ a collaboration between venerable performance artist Joan Jonas and talented young jazz pianist Jason Moran. You can read more about it here, but...
Posted Jan 2nd, 2013
The Bad Plus: “new, original, and ambitious”
From Jazz Times The Bad Plus: Made Possible, Dave King: I’ve Been Ringing You By: Thomas Conrad The boys are back. Made Possible is the 10th album by the Bad Plus. They are still loud and inappropriate. They are still impulsive and obnoxious and irresistible as street urchins. And they have found some fresh ways to be all these things....
Posted Dec 19th, 2012
Dave King of The Bad Plus
From Modern Drummer Dave King of the Bad Plus: Web-Exclusive Interview By: Michael Parillo I’ve always been attracted to the mystery of things, not just the road map,’ says Dave King of the Bad Plus, MD’s October 2012 cover star. And indeed, King sometimes resists analyzing his own wide-ranging music on a technical level, letting the sounds and the feelings...
Posted Dec 5th, 2012
The Bad Plus on BBC Radio
From BBC Radio 6 Music The Bad Plus “Aw jeah. Huey’s here, with the jams in the jar and love in his heart. This week’s guests, The Bad Plus, push the boundaries of jazz whilst making it inclusive at the same time. They’ve covered everyone from Radiohead to Neil Young but their new album of originals takes them to the...
Posted Nov 12th, 2012
A Conversation with The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson
From Huffington Post Monday Magic: Conversations With Gary Clark Jr., The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson, Kaki King and Lindi Ortega By: Mike Ragogna A Conversation With The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson Mike Ragogna: We’ve got the pianist from that rad, mad and badass group, The Bad Plus. Hey there, Ethan! Ethan Iverson: How are you doing? Thank you for that...
Posted Nov 5th, 2012
From album to album, The Bad Plus continue to evolve and improve.
from www.bbc.co.uk THE BAD PLUS – MADE POSSIBLE By: John Eyles In the years since pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King formed The Bad Plus in 2000, the trio has built a solid reputation as a refreshingly innovative group that brings the energy of rock music to jazz. Made Possible, their 10th album, further enhances that...
Posted Nov 1st, 2012
The Bad Plus “changed the game in the jazz genre.”
From Next Bop For Your Consideration: The Bad Plus’ ‘Made Possible’ By: Anthony Dean-Harris Consider for a moment the career arc of The Bad Plus. When the trio of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King burst onto the scene with their swirling, intricate, playful compositions and head-turning rock covers back in the early aughts, music fans...
Posted Oct 30th, 2012
Fresh Ears Review The Bad Plus’ Made Possible
From MVRemix The Bad Plus ‘” Made Possible album review By: Melissa Mendoza When I was assigned to write about The Bad Plus, they sounded like a hard-core rock band. I’ve never really associated a name like that with jazz, but what’s in a name, to quote Shakespeare. The Bad Plus is a jazz trio hailing from Minnesota. Their new...
Posted Oct 28th, 2012
The Bad Plus: Made Possible’s Dazzling Review
From The Guardian The Bad Plus: Made Possible ‘” review By: John Fordham Made Possible is at once vintage Bad Plus in its striking themes, nonchalant time-bends and full-on collective improv, and proof of this awesome ensemble’s continuing evolution. All the tracks are originals, apart from the late drummer Paul Motian’s poignant Victoria, and there’s some limited, but telling, use...
Posted Oct 22nd, 2012
The Arts Desk Reviews The Bad Plus’ New Album
From The Arts Desk CD: The Bad Plus – Made Possible From Satie-like simplicity to player piano virtuosity, the US trio is on dazzling form By: Peter Quinn Possessing one of the most recognisable sounds in jazz, US trio The Bad Plus don’t so much subvert genre as wrap it up in a little parcel and put an incendiary device...
Posted Oct 16th, 2012
The Bad Plus: Messengers for the Jazz Sound
From The LA Times The Bad Plus: Messengers for the Jazz Sound By: Chris Barton Drawing inspiration from the pop world is far from a new phenomenon in the jazz tradition, but for the Bad Plus, it was a move that proved controversial when the group first came on the scene. Debuting on a major label in 2003 with “These...
Posted Oct 9th, 2012
The Rite Stuff: Bad Plus Trio
From The San Francisco Classical Voice The Rite Stuff: Bad Plus Trio By: Jeff Kaliss Since the turn of the millennium, The Bad Plus has earned cred as a trio which, despite its wide appeal, resists being confined by musical conventions, whether they involve familiar rhythmic and harmonic structures or genre pigeonholing. Though his group is most frequently seen at...
Posted Oct 5th, 2012
The Bad Plus Brings A New Style
From The Philadelphia Inquirer The Bad Plus brings a new style to Chris’ Jazz Cafe By: Shaun Brady …The Bad Plus also has changed: Missing from the two sets on Saturday night were any of those crowd-pleasing, slightly tongue-in-cheek rock covers, as they were from their last two albums. The band’s focus has shifted more fully to the members’ own...
Posted Oct 1st, 2012
Made Possible
North American Release: September 25, 2012 International Release: October 22, 2012 The Bad Plus has spent over a decade breaking down the walls of jazz convention, reaching audiences of all demographic stripes with an uncompromising body of original music (plus some ingenious, genre-jumping covers) and dedicated touring around the globe. Few jazz groups in recent memory have generated such a...
Posted Sep 25th, 2012
The Bad Plus’ Made Possible – Out Today!
From The New York Times New Albums From Bad Plus and the Dave King Trio By: Nate Chinen After more than a decade of steady touring and recording, the Bad Plus truly knows itself. That may seem obvious, given that its personnel ‘” the bassist Reid Anderson, the pianist Ethan Iverson and the drummer David King ‘” had an arresting,...
Posted Sep 25th, 2012
The Bad Plus Raise a Ruckus on Tour Opener
From Rolling Stone The Bad Plus Raise a Ruckus on Tour Opener in Knoxville By: Ryan Reed A few songs into their lean, heavy-hitting set at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre, during the reflective coda of “The Empire Strikes Backwards” Bad Plus drummer Dave King squeaked an amplified toy duck, while pianist Ethan Iverson bathed the enthusiastic crowd in oceanic arpeggios. Given...
Posted Sep 21st, 2012
The Bad Plus’ Reid Anderson Talks New Music
From The Thread Interview: Reid Anderson of the Bad Plus By: Brian Howe The new Bad Plus album doesn’t hit stores until September 25, but if you live near Durham you can cop it early at the venturesome jazz trio’s pair of Motorco shows on Sept 21 and 22. Circumstantially, Made Possible harks back to 2005’s Suspicious Activity? Both records...
Posted Sep 17th, 2012
The Bad Plus Unveil Mini Documentary, New Album
From City Pages The Bad Plus unveil mini documentary about new album, Made Possible By: Reed Fisher The beauty of Upstate New York gets paired with forks jabbed into the innards of a grand piano for celebrated local jazz trio the Bad Plus’ latest studio effort, Made Possible. And it’s all on display in a new mini documentary that details...
Posted Aug 29th, 2012
IFC Premieres The Bad Plus’ New Video
From IFC Take a sneak peek at Bad Plus’ new album “Made Possible” By: Melissa Locker The Bad Plus has spent more than a decade redefining what most people think of jazz, instead making music that even rock fans find irresistible. The trio of piano, bass, and drums is never limited by the fact that they just have three instruments....
Posted Aug 21st, 2012
The Bad Plus Bring Jazz Touch to Rite of Spring
From: WQXR The Bad Plus Bring Jazz Touch to Rite of Spring By: Emily Ostertag At the notorious premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in 1913, riots broke out in the audience. When the boundary-smashing jazz trio the Bad Plus gives the New York premiere of its version of the ballet suite at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors on Thursday, the...
Posted Aug 1st, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus and Joshua Redman at Queen’s Hall
from Herald Scotland The Bad Plus & Joshua Redman, Queen’s Hall By Rob Adams One of these musicians was guesting with a trio of 11 years’ standing. Yes, I know it’s obvious from the billing that it was Joshua Redman but if you’d arrived at the Queen’s Hall with no prior knowledge of the players involved, I suspect the impression...
Posted Jul 25th, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus at Teatro Spiegeltent
from Scotsman The Bad Plus at Teatro Spiegeltent By Paul Christie The Capital’s annual jazz festival is in full swing this week as bands and artists from all over the world flock to Edinburgh to be part of the line-up of the 34th Edinburgh Jazz Festival. The festival was started in 1978 to showcase traditional jazz music in the city....
Posted Jul 24th, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus at Austin Chamber Music Festival
from Austin 360 The Bad Plus-Austin American Statesman Review By Luke Quinton You don’t hear a lot chamber music festivals with audiences hollering out requests, or men excitedly hooting ‘Woooooo!’ after a piece. But then, Austin’s Chamber Music Festival brought in The Bad Plus. And to play famed club Antone’s no less, where a crowd packed in to hear the...
Posted Jul 13th, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus with special guest Joshua Redman
from Jazz Police 14th Twin Cities Jazz Festival: A Good Plus From Start to Finish By Andrea Canter It started with the most ambitious ‘Jazz Night Out’ in festival history and ended with the largest festival crowd ever, filling ‘“overfilling’“Mears Park and rewarded with two encores from The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman. With three outdoor stages and a dozen...
Posted Jul 9th, 2012
REVIEW: Emotion and Power – The Bad Plus and Joshua Redman
Emotion and power at the Jazz Festival: The Bad Plus and Joshua Redman By David Cazares Anyone who has seen or heard The Bad Plus, can’t help but be impressed by the way the trio powers its way through tunes. From the group’s original compositions to covers of pop songs like Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,”...
Posted Jul 9th, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman at Twin Cities Jazz Festival
from BeBopified The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival By Pamela Espeland I could listen to The Bad Plus until hell freezes over or the cows come home. I’ve been a fan since ‘Authorized Bootleg’ and have seen them live whenever I could since early 2002. To me, their music doesn’t get old. Songs I’ve...
Posted Jul 2nd, 2012
The Bad Plus, Plus One
from Star Tribune The Bad Plus, Plus One By Britt Robson The trio that speaks its own “tribal language” makes room for saxman Joshua Redman at a Twin Cities Jazz Festival gig. For most of its dozen years, the Bad Plus has been a splendidly self-contained trio knitted together by its members’ idiosyncratic sensibility. While ostensibly a jazz group, drummer...
Posted Jun 25th, 2012
INTERVIEW: Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus
from EMusic Interview: Ethan Iverson By Kevin Whitehead Ethan Iverson is a polymath: a jazz pianist equally comfortable playing Cole Porter’s ‘Night and Day’ at a cozy club like Smalls and knocking out Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ on a theater stage with The Bad Plus, the hugely influential trio he co-leads with drummer Dave King and bassist Reid Anderson. These...
Posted Jun 25th, 2012
The Bad Plus Taking Ireland By Storm
The Bad Plus Embark on Tour of Ireland The Bad Plus kick off a 6 performance Irish tour in Belfast today. Siobhán Kane nabbed pianist Ethan Iverson for a quick chat just before he jumped on a plane. Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and Dave King have known and played with each other for more than twenty years, but didn’t start...
Posted May 25th, 2012
REVIEW: The Bad Plus – ‘Rite of Spring’
from The Cornell Daily Sun The Riots of Spring By Lubabah Chowdhury Igor Stravinsky is a rather controversial name in the music world. His 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring is well known not only for its jarring dissonance and abnormal rhythmic patterns but also for causing one of the most notorious riots in musical history. Audience members booed and...
Posted Apr 2nd, 2012
The Bad Plus Perform a Re-Imagined Rite of Spring
from Ithaca.com The Bad Plus Perform a Re-Imagined Rite of Spring By Luke Z. Fenchel Here’s how Alex Ross, author of the indispensable account of twentieth century classical music described ‘Dance of the Earth,’ the first part of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which will be performed by the power jazz trio The Bad Plus on Friday, March 30...
Posted Mar 28th, 2012
The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman at Twin Cities Jazz Festival
from Jazz Police 2012 Twin Cities Jazz Festival: Hot Headliners Announced By Andrea Canter Jon Weber, long-time ‘house pianist’ for the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, came to the Artists Quarter last night for an evening of solo and trio excitement, but the excitement began before he played his first note. Twin Cities Jazz Festival Director Steve Heckler, hosting Weber’s gig,...
Posted Jan 16th, 2012
The Bad Plus Rock Earshot as Festival Continues
from Groovenotes.org The Bad Plus Rock Earshot as Festival Continues By Kevin Kniestedt The Bad Plus aren’t the kind of trio that swings, you’re much more likely to hear after-show comments like ‘That rocked!’ or ‘Those guys are epic!’ Playing songs mostly from their upcoming as-yet-untitled new album, the trio used all of the acoustic advantages of Seattle’s Town Hall...
Posted Nov 2nd, 2011
REVIEW: The Bad Plus: Never Stop
From furryjazz.blogspot.com By: Jazz Maniac Never Stop, the Bad Plus’ eighth recording, is their first of completely original material. In a decade-long career filled with curve balls (the last being 2009’s For All I Care, their first set of all cover material and the first to feature a vocalist), Never Stop pushes their margin and extends their reach far past...
Posted Jul 26th, 2011
LIVE VIDEO: The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus performed at this year’s Locus Festival in Locorotondo, Italy. Check out this video of their performance.
Posted Jul 26th, 2011
PREVIEW The Bad Plus at Saratoga Jazz Festival
from The Saratogian Jazz fest sneak peek – The ‘Bad’ boys June 19, 2011 SARATOGA SPRINGS ‘” Bringing its ‘audacious, rule-breaking’ style to the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, The Bad Plus makes its debut on SPAC’s festival amphitheater stage on Sunday, June 26. The jazz piano trio has earned a unique place in the jazz world by melding the genres...
Posted Jun 20th, 2011
The Bad Plus: NPR Song of the Day
from NPR The Bad Plus: Jazz As Instrumental Pop by Evan Haga When The Bad Plus released These Are the Vistas in 2003, the band received notices from a lot of non-jazz press whose coverage focused on an easy angle: its reinvention of pop and rock material, including songs by Nirvana, Blondie and Aphex Twin. These generalists were reacting to...
Posted Jun 15th, 2011
The Bad Plus Play Stravinsky: A concert review in seven movements
From bebopified The Bad Plus Play Stravinsky: A concert review in seven movements By Bruce Abbott, Don Berryman, Larry Englund, Kip Jones, Bill Kempe, and Bonnie Marshall Larry Englund It was many, many years ago that I watched Maurice Bejart’s ballet of The Rite of Spring, a powerful spectacle featuring what seemed like hundreds of dancers on stage. With only...
Posted Jun 10th, 2011
LIVE VIDEO: The Bad Plus in Sao Paolo, Brazil
The Bad Plus went down to Brazil for a few dates last week. Here’s some footage of ‘Never Stop’ from their performance at SESC Pompéia in Sao Paolo.
Posted Jun 3rd, 2011
INTERVIEW: Dave King of the Bad Plus talks Stravinsky
from Minnesota Public Radio Dave King of the Bad Plus talks Stravinsky St. Paul, Minn. ‘” The Bad Plus are a Minneapolis jazz trio who are perhaps best known for their instrumental covers of rock songs, which earned them the honor of being called “as badass as highbrow gets” by Rolling Stone. However, later this month, the group will swing...
Posted May 23rd, 2011
Rite of Spring, Left of Center: The Bad Plus Honors ‘Sacred Ground’ at the Loring
From Jazz Police Rite of Spring, Left of Center: The Bad Plus Honors ‘Sacred Ground’ at the Loring By Andrea Canter One of the hallmarks of the Bad Plus is the equity of their long-standing collaboration. But the fact that there isn’t one star among the trio hardly means these musicians lack star power. Rather, it’s the merging of the...
Posted May 23rd, 2011
LIVE VIDEO: The Bad Plus with hr-Big Band
The Bad Plus played with hr Big Band in Germany over the weekend. To watch a recording of the entire performance click here
Posted May 19th, 2011
LIVE STREAM: The Bad Plus with the hr-Big Band
The Bad Plus’ performance with the hr-Big Band (DE) tomorrow in Frankfurt, Germany will be streaming live! The concert starts at 8pm local time . You can listen in here
Posted May 13th, 2011
HR Big Band meets The Bad Plus
from www.kunstfreunde-magdeburg.de Jazz in Darmstadt: hr Big Band meets The Bad Plus. Brachial sophisticated jazz – the hardest temptation since the invention of the piano trios From: Sabine Milewski ‘When the Coen brothers would put together a jazz trio, it would probably be like this: funny and dramatic at the same time, “wrote the Guardian. Since the three childhood friends...
Posted May 11th, 2011
REVIEW: The Bad Plus with Special Guest Joshua Redman
From The Wall Street Journal The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman: The Blue Note By: Will Friedwald Most contemporary jazz groups merely preach to the choir, but the Bad Plus is that rare band that’s managed to get through to the world beyond the jazz audience. Its ingenious tactic is to play acoustic jazz with the rhythmic sensibilities a Rush...
Posted Apr 22nd, 2011
The Bad Plus on NPR’s Weekend Edition
from NPR The Bad Plus Tackle Stravinsky’s ‘Spring’ The latest project from The Bad Plus shifts the jazz trio’s focus from rock classics to a classical masterpiece. By NPR Staff You probably know Igor Stravinsky’s controversial ballet The Rite of Spring from its appearance in the Disney film Fantasia, where it served as the score for a dramatic sequence depicting...
Posted Mar 21st, 2011
REVIEW: The Bad Plus at Jazz at the Bistro
Review: The Bad Plus at Jazz at the Bistro Wednesday, January 5 By Dean Minderman Perhaps best known previously for their sometimes radical re-imaginings of rock and pop songs, The Bad Plus appear to have entered a new phase with last year’s release of Never Stop, their first CD of all original compositions. Their St. Louis performance Wednesday night at...
Posted Jan 5th, 2011
The Bad Plus Covers More Ground
from The Wall Street Journal by Martin Johnson The Bad Plus Covers More Ground Pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King, better known as the Bad Plus, have come a long way in their 10 years as a trio. Initially they were regarded by the jazz community as a lightweight novelty band, one that played covers of...
Posted Dec 28th, 2010
Slate’s Best Jazz Albums of 2010 Includes the Bad Plus
from Slate.com The Bad Plus, Never Stop (E-One) Those pomo bad boys with the crazy-quilt covers are back (Ethan Iverson, piano; Reid Anderson, bass; Dave King, drums), with their first album of entirely original material. The familiar wit and whimsy are intact, but there’s also a more effortless swing, a less insistent virtuosity (though these are virtuoso musicians, all), and...
Posted Dec 16th, 2010
Reverb Interview: Dave King of the Bad Plus
from heyreverb.com Reverb Interview: Dave King of the Bad Plus By Sam DeLeo When Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ premiered in Paris about 100 years ago, a riot broke out. Not a riot as in laughter or amusement, but riot as in describing the chaos and fistfights erupting between those who supported and opposed the musical choreography unfolding up on the...
Posted Dec 10th, 2010
The Bad Plus, London Jazz Fest Preview
The Bad Plus will be doing a residency at this year’s London Jazz Festival. The festival’s blog talked with the band about their excitement for the upcoming string of performances and what fans can expect. To read the article click here
Posted Nov 10th, 2010
Win a Night Out With The Bad Plus
The Guardian newspaper is offering a “a night out at the London Jazz Festival” with the Bad Plus To find out more details on how to get a free dinner at Rotunda Restaurant to the value of £80, a pair of tickets to see the The Bad Plus, and entrance into the late-night show, featuring live music and DJ sets...
Posted Oct 29th, 2010
The Bad Plus, Still Totally Committed
(From The New York Times) Ten years ago the Bad Plus came together in a warm rush of camaraderie and with a clear grasp of novelty. Here was a jazz piano trio with the heart and gall of a stadium rock band, grappling wryly but directly with anthemic covers and its own scarcely less anthemic originals. The group was brash...
Posted Sep 22nd, 2010
The Bad Plus Reveals Its Roots
From Montreal Gazette The Bad Plus Reveals Its Roots MONTREAL – There are no Nirvana covers on the new Bad Plus album. In fact, there are no covers at all. For the first time in its 10-year career, the American jazz trio is releasing an album of entirely original material. It’s a stretch for a group that first raised eyebrows...
Posted Sep 21st, 2010
REVIEW The Bad Plus in New York, NY
from SoundSpike Concert: The Bad Plus in New York, NY Story by Phil Gallo The trio of pianist Ethan Iverson, drummer David King and bassist Reid Anderson is celebrating 10 years of performing together by stepping away from the rock ‘n’ roll repertoire that generated their initial buzz. Their new album, “Never Stop,” is their first collection of all original...
Posted Sep 16th, 2010
The Bad Plus Release “Never Stop” Sept. 14
THE BAD PLUS MARKS A DECADE AT THE FOREFRONT OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC NEVER STOP, the trio’s first album of all originals, set for release on September 14, 2010 E1 Music is excited to announce the release of The Bad Plus’s new album, NEVER STOP, on September 14, 2010. It is the band’s first album of all originals, and it’s eighth...
Posted Sep 8th, 2010
The Bad Plus’ “Never Stop” on NPR’s First Listen
from npr.org By Patrick Jarenwattananon There was a time when the top jazz bands played a lot ‘” say, 250-300 nights a year. At the very least, jazz acts might have enjoyed frequent extended residencies, as in month-long (or longer) stays at a nightclub at any one time, playing multiple sets per night, six nights a week. Those groups got...
Posted Sep 7th, 2010
“Helsinki Fest meets Minnesota madness”
from This Is Finland Minnesota trio The Bad Plus, who play the Helsinki Festival’s Huvila Tent on August 22, have a reputation for playing jazzy covers of tunes by Pink Floyd, ABBA and Nirvana. But now those covers are on the back burner as they cook up more original tunes. Over the past decade, The Bad Plus has enraged jazz...
Posted Aug 20th, 2010
The Bad Plus to play Australia’s Noosa Jazz Festival
The Noosa News (Noosa, Australia) posted an article today on the recent announcement of the lineup for this year’s Noosa Jazz Festival. Among those on this year’s bill is The Bad Plus! The festival will run from September 2 until September 5. The Bad Plus plays Saturday, the 4th. In addition to Noosa, the guys will be playing 2 other...
Posted Aug 6th, 2010
The Bad Plus Live in Chicago
From Jazzchicago.net By Brad Walseth Consider me a convert. Critical darlings The Bad Plus strode back into town for a concert appearance at the U. of Chicago’s lovely Mandel Hall, and as James (Walker) was busy celebrating the Super Bowl down in New Orleans, John and I were recruited to cover the event. I am embarrassed to admit that the...
Posted Feb 5th, 2010
The Bad Plus Live in St. Louis
From JamBase.com By Patrick Shamel The Bad Plus :: 01.08.10 :: Jazz at the Bistro :: St. Louis, MO Amidst pianist Ethan Iverson’s dry humor in addressing the crowd between songs and drummer Dave King’s various children’s musical instruments utilized for fills and perhaps intentional hilarity, what really stands out about The Bad Plus is their virtuosity and sharp improvisation...
Posted Jan 27th, 2010
The Bad Plus Offers Jazzy, Unpredictable Show
By Matthew Fernandes ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 01/07/2010 Blizzard, schmizzard. Bee Gees, Schmee Gees. As the city outside got pummeled with snow, progressive trio The Bad Plus opened its four-night stint at Jazz at the Bistro Wednesday with a set of modern jazz that was at turns charming and wildly exhilarating. Lacking the vocalist the group featured on last year’s “For...
Posted Jan 7th, 2010
The Bad Plus/ Jason Moran make NPR’s top 50 albums of the decade
Supplied by: NPR Contributing writer: Patrick Jarenwattananon, These Are the Vistas Artist: The Bad Plus Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit The fact that most everybody in the stratified jazz world was talking about this record in 2003 is evidence enough of its importance. But the real coup lies in the fact that it got people outside jazz to listen. That’ll...
Posted Jan 4th, 2010
Interview: Bad Plus Bassist Reid Anderson
From Riverfront Times By Dean Minderman The Bad Plus is known for its clever re-imaginings of songs associated with rock, pop and classical music. But when it’s show time, the critically acclaimed jazz trio favors spontaneity over calculation. “We have a pretty large repertoire at this point, and the band has been together for ten years strong now, so we...
Posted Jan 3rd, 2010
The Bad Plus; “The Best Albums of 2009: 10 Peaks in Pop”
From Nydailynews.com By Jim Farber 2. The Bad Plus, “For All I Care”; Is it jazz? Rock? Classical music? The New York-based instrumental trio known as the Bad Plus have gotten a lot of attention over the years for deforming songs by acts like Nirvana, Black Sabbath and Ornette Coleman into something you can’t classify. For their sixth CD, the...
Posted Dec 29th, 2009
Coffee With‘¦ The Bad Plus
From Pulp Magazine By John Tucker Amplifier Magazine labeled them ‘the most distinctive three-piece outfit since Nirvana’; Rolling Stone called their sound ‘as badass as highbrow gets’; of course, I refer to Minnesota-born jazz outfit The Bad Plus. Making a name for themselves as the punk-rockers of traditional jazz (Hüsker Brübeck, if you will, although I suspect you won’t) by...
Posted Oct 28th, 2009
Sewell + Bad Plus = Sly New Work
From Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune By Caroline Palmer The Minneapolis choreographer and the locally rooted jazz trio make for a splendid pairing. I went on Thursday night, and it was well worth the price of admission. The ‘Simple Folk’ number is excellent, as are the Bad Plus pieces. Overall, the music is astounding, and with one or two exceptions, the...
Posted Oct 18th, 2009
The Bad Plus Featured on Here and Now
Listen to the entire program here Moving Past Jazz ‘Standards’ Recently, several jazz groups have been venturing outside the great American songbook for inspiration. Here and Now’s jazz aficionado James Isaacs brings us songs by Nirvana, Wilco, Rufus Wainwright, and Bob Dylan reinterpreted by The Bad Plus, Dave Douglas, Jim Hall and Bill Frisell. Music from the show: Kurt Cobain,...
Posted Jun 15th, 2009
The Bad Plus featured as The Soft Bulletin Turns 10
The Bad Plus’ rendition of Feeling Yourself Disintegrate is featured on Stereogum as The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin turns 10 this week. You can stream this and many other tracks at stereogum.com var addthis_pub=“4a1593986290e969”;
Posted May 19th, 2009
The Bad Plus and Wendy Lewis video from The Cedar in Minneapolis
You can stream The Bad Plus joined by Wendy Lewis performing at the Cedar in Minneapolis on April 25th as well as interviews with the band members below. Check out 3MinuteEgg for more free videos and to help support the local Twin Cities arts scene.
Posted May 7th, 2009
The Bad Plus’ Reid Anderson interviewed on KPFK
Listen to the complete interview here (Reid begins about 1/3 of the way through).
Posted Mar 10th, 2009
The Bad Plus on NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater
The Bad Plus, Spanish Harlem Orchestra: The Shape Of Jazz To Come JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, February 12, 2009 By Becca Pulliam Click here to listen The Bad Plus came together in the early 2000s, offering up a jazz spin on works by Nirvana, Aphex Twin and other non-jazz sources. Since then, each of the trio’s records has further...
Posted Feb 12th, 2009
“How Deep is Your Love” is NPR’s song of the day
Listen here.NPR.org. February 9, 2009 – A ghostly bass plucks out notes that tremble with foreboding. A Steinway piano injects haunting, minor-key arpeggios. A woman chimes in, her voice seemingly filtered through gauze. It’s natural to expect a song of apocalyptic doom, until it becomes clear that she’s crooning “How Deep Is Your Love,” that falsetto-fueled Bee Gees relic from...
Posted Feb 11th, 2009
“For All I Care” released today!
Alt-Rock vocalist Wendy Lewis joins the progressive jazz trio on For All I Care. For the better part of a decade, the progressive jazz trio known as The Bad Plus have been stirring up a musical stew that defies easy description. Drawing on sources as diverse as classical, jazz, rock, pop and beyond, they have created a singular aesthetic that...
Posted Feb 3rd, 2009
The Bad Plus to appear on Conan Friday May 30
In case you missed it the first time – The Bad Plus will perform on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on Friday night, May 30th.
Posted May 21st, 2008
The Bad Plus to perform on Conan Fri 3/14
The Bad Plus will perform on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on Friday night, March 14th.
Posted Mar 13th, 2008
Master Rider: Download (pdf)
A combustible trio with a book of finely orchestrated, catchy original tunes, and a knack for radically reconstituted pop covers.
The New York Times
By any standard, jazz or otherwise, it is moving, mighty music…bad to the bone, hot players with hard-rock hearts.
Rolling Stone
The Bad Plus are the Coen brothers of jazz: Midwesterners, both ironic and dead earnest, technically brilliant, beyond versatile, a little chilly sometimes, but funny, surprising, and pretty hard to pin down.
The New Yorker
One of the great, true groups in jazz of the past 25 years.
Joshua Redman