The Bad Plus thrashed its way into thejazz limelight after its 2003 debut on Columbia Records, These Are the Vistas, which featured deconstructed interpretationsof non-jazz songs, like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Blondie’s “Heart ofGlass” and Aphex Twin’s “Flim,” alongside original material that found a middleground between traditional jazz, highbrow classical and hard-hitting rock ’n’roll.
But don’t get the wrong idea; thesearen’t the kind of jazz covers you’d hear at the supermarket.
“We’re very much against hijacking thismusic and ‘jazzifying’ it,” says Bad Plus drummer Dave King. “That’s the onething we’ve always stood against: the jazz cover-version of a rock tune. We’vetaken a lot of shit for not using jazz harmony, as if we don’t know jazzharmony, which is ludicrous. We just don’t think that things are going to soundbetter when you put a flat-five, sharp-blah-blah chord on it.”
And yes, The Bad Plus has taken a fairamount of shit in the wake of their three Columbiareleases. Bill Milkowski, one of the genre’s most distinguished critics anddocumentarians, sought to “bury” the group in one article, jabbing at King inparticular for playing “so little so loud.” The pan evokes a chuckle from thedrummer.
“Anyone that’s seen us knows we’re avery dynamic band,” King says. “Milkowski didn’t even know who The Pixies were,so I can’t justify a music critic’s opinion who doesn’t know The Pixies.”
For the most part the praising andpanning died down after Columbiadropped the band following its 2005 release SuspiciousActivity?. They’ve since released two records on indie labels, and areexpecting a new release in September, an all-originals LP titled Never Stop.King says the choice for an all-originals record is a celebration ofthe band’s 10 years together.
“There’s more of a classic jazz soundto the record,” King says. “It doesn’t have the rock production we’ve hadworking with Tchad Blake [Black Keys, Pearl Jam] and Tony Platt [AC/DC, IronMaiden]; not that we ever did shit that sounds like Radiohead, but for us,putting a little something on anything was something we embraced.”
Because after all, The Bad Plus is anacoustic jazz trio making a living in the jazz Meccathat is New York City.But as King points out, the concept of a working jazz banda unit of musiciansthat creates and tours under a shared nameis somewhat of an anomaly in jazzthese days. The fact that all three members of the band are each virtuosomusicians in their own right but collaborating democratically is something thatsets them apart from other groups.
“To be honest with you, I’m moredisappointed than inspired,” King says about the landscape of modern jazz. “New York used to houseall these great working jazz bands. And now with how much it costs to live andhow splintered everything is, it’s like people are just reading charts on gigs.I mean, flat-out, if you get a band like the Jason Moran and the Bandwagon orThe Bad Plus on a festival date, and you get a bunch of people who are greatinstrumentalists that are reading charts, doing whatever, we will destroy you.”
Which is something that gets to theheart of The Bad Plus sound, something that’s simultaneously composed andimprovised, both loose and tight at any given moment while powerfully dynamicthroughout. It’s the thing that allows them to hover around the point whereVivaldi meets Monk meets Cobain, the thing that makes the band distinct andindispensable.
“We’ve been around 10 years and livedthrough the Columbiahype,” King says. “We never said we were reinventing jazz, but we know whatwe’ve done, which is a unique thing in improvised music, and we’ll continuedoing that. And that’s not an ego position, that’s literally a fact. We did itpunk-rock style, and we’re still doing it that way.”
Jazzin the Park runs from 6 to 9 p.m. every Thursday through Sept. 23 at Cathedral Square Park.
