The Bad Plus are quite a rare thing in jazz. They’re a band that sound and feel like a band, rather than a band in service of a leader. They aren’t the Reid Anderson or Dave King trio (or quartet – more to come), they’re The Bad Plus.
That might sound like semantics but it’s more than that. Over two decades they have carved an aesthetic which even as it dramatically changes feels like what The Bad Plus do.
Staring life as a trio with Anderson on bass, King on Drums and Ethan Anderson on piano they made their name combining originals with fun and superbly crafted covers of tunes from the likes of Aphex Twin, Black Sabbath and Nirvana as well as Ornette Coleman. That trio was honed and became increasingly popular for fifteen years or so. Then Ethan left and the band rode on with a new pianist – Orrin Evans. He also left in 2017 and the group took on a new life as a quartet with Ben Monder on guitar and Chris Speed on sax.
And it’s that group that deliver Complex Emotions a record that feels like the settling in of their new evolved form. And it is an evolution. For Bad Plus fans the original DNA is there even if the expression of it feels wholly fresh.
“With this new album and this new batch of music, we’re planting a flag to say that this version of the band has really come into its own,” Reid Anderson explains.
As for the title Anderson says “A big part of what the sound of this band is, is the willingness to explore complex emotions. That’s something that we’re not only comfortable with but that we’ve embraced from the beginning of the band.”
Complex Emotions is a record that Bad Plus fans should delight in, but if you’re hearing of the band for the first time then the door is wide open.
This is our Album Of The Week on One Jazz w/c Monday 28th October