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Bringing Jazz and Rock to a Melting Point
eet The Bad Plus. It's a typical pop group.
/ \ Sort of. Aside from the instrumental array
/ \ of post-bebop jazz and late-Romanticism,
chromatic and whole tone scales, bi-tonality and atonalism;
you'll find the band to be quite amiable, ana perhaps even
accessible—-maybe. It's only after the group combines all of
these elements into the occasional classic rock cover that
makes the whole ordeal an easier sell—a tactic which, thus far,
has offered the group the opportunity to cohabitate within the
confines of popular music, introducing a new generation of lis
teners to its inverted musical agenda in what was once a more
comfortably defined living space.
Despised by the orthodox jazz community and otherwise
labeled as "postmodern" by the popular press, The Bad Plus
has rather unsystematically abandoned the notion of wield
ing any particular sense of musical/historical tradition,
making it increasingly difficult to categorize, or critique for
that matter. From the offset, this was probably never
the bandmembers' intention, but became so, in spite
of themselves and by virtue of their eclectic musi
cal tastes. To the average listener, it is oftentimes
difficult to decipher whether The Bad Plus is a rock-
inspired jazz trio or a jazz-inspired rock group; yet,
in the marginalized context of postmodern musical
ambiguity, such labels simply aren't warranted nor are
they in any way helpful. Here lies the difficulty in writ
ing about a group like The Bad Plus, as its sonic palette
typically defies the limitations of verbal conventions.
Fortunately, for our aural clarification, the road-rehearsed
trio will take the stage of Athens' Melting Point this
Thursday, May 1, guaranteeing to brandish flawless techni
cal proficiency and even more sonic force.
Unlike other contemporary jazz artists in its league. The
Bad Plus has consistently managed to captivate audiences
without requisite all-star collaborations, studio overdubbing
or needless digital gimmickry. For the recording of its 2007
release, Prog, the group opted for a truly acoustic representa
tion of its sound, camping out with British-native engineer/
mixer Tony Platt (known for his work with AC/DC, The Who
and Led Zeppelin, to name a few) in the band's home state of
Minnesota, only to find themselves delving right into habitual
mayhem. The resulting album reveals the group to be just as
prolific as in previous albums, without showing evidence of
exhausting its creativity.
In typical atypical fashion, the three-man demolition squad
relishes in its own demented pleasures, torturing and maiming
thematic elements, as they are rag-dolled from one instru
ment to the next in some possessed form of imitative coun
terpoint. On the relentless original, "Physical Cities," bassist
Reid Anderson's uncompromising 5/4 bass-figure is regularly
displaced by pianist Ethan Iverson's metrical barrage of spiral
ing 16th notes, and might be the only jazz number to date
that hammers out syncopated power chords loudly enough to
tear through your subwoofer. It's the same musical effect that
In what has become something of a trademark for the
group, any Bad Plus album wouldn't be complete without
a collection of pop deconstructions (the group would hesi
tate to use the term "cover"). The bridge for Tears for Fears'
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" showcases Iverson's cas
cading arabesques in Debussy-like idiom, while Bowie's "Life
on Mars" flaunts his ability to employ one hand to sound the
melody, while the other creates a conflagration of chromatic
confusion. Yet, it's Iverson's "Mint" that truly elucidates his
whimsical style of composition, in which he fuses Rachmaninov
and Ornette Coleman in bursts of atonal vigor, only to be
caused audience members to riot after hearing Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring, and precisely the kind of gut reaction these
guys are after. To add more fuel to the fire, drummer David
King divulged in an interview with Flagpole that the group's
forthcoming album would feature rearrangements of works
by both Stravinsky, and Gyorgy Ligeti (most recognizable for
scoring several Stanley Kubrick films)—as though covering
Black Sabbath just wasn't enough. King added that a preview
of these works in progress could be heard at the Melting Point
performance.
further disfigured by unpredictable stretches of asymmetrical
phrasing. Like a brainy infant throwing a temper tantrum,
Iverson gets manically chromatic in moments of frenetic heat,
and diametrically fragile when Anderson's more introverted
style forces him to take a musical time-out. "Giant" is recog
nizably Anderson's own in its detached melancholy, employing
slowly shifting suspended minor chords over an ostinato bass
line that borrows as much from Radiohead as it builds upon
previous compositions such as "Silence is the Question" (These
Are the Vistas) and the Mahler-inspired, "Prehensile Dream"
(Suspicious Activities?). Looming, omnipresent drummer David
King seems more confident in his own musical space, often
directing the energy of his bandmates through direct opposi
tion, setting the stage for the inherent conflict within each
tune, as in the fiery bossa of "Thriftstore Jewelry." In his Zen-
like approach. King often approaches the kit the way Miles
Davis might have approached playing the trumpet—"When
they play fast, you play slow," Miles once advised bassist
Buster Williams after a gig, "when they play slow, you
play fast." King asserts that as a group. The Bad Plus
is an "organic being" with plenty of breathing room
for each member to convey his strengths within each
composition. "We're a total democracy," King adds.
Never taking success too seriously, the trio have
developed what appears to be its own "music-award
for the underdog" across its four-album career span,
beginning with "1972 Bronze Medalist" from the
debut. These Are the Vistas (2003), losing a little steam
on Give's (2004) "1979 Semi-Finalist," followed by a mys
terious gap on Columbia-released Suspicious Activities?
(2005) before returning triumphantly with Prog's "1980 World
Champion," which samples a victory speech from an Olympic
contender in the height of his glory, reflecting a trio in the
pinnacle of its power as the album races towards the finish.
Yet, there is an underlying subtext to this story, as King admits
that the hero in his fictional trilogy feels a tinge of remorse
in lieu of his hard-earned achievement. This is perhaps no
coincidence, as it's the band's ever-renewable sense of humil
ity, combined with a tenacious work ethic, that has allowed
the members to challenge each other musically, as well as to
remain objective about their own careers. "We've never been
tne type of guys to win any awards," King confesses. Maybe
it's time to introduce a Grammy in the "postmodern jazz" cate
gory—but the boys surely aren't resting their future upon it.
Ryan Monahan
r
WHO: The Bad Plus
WHERE: The Melting Point
WHEN: Thursday, May 1
.
HOW MUCH: $20
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