One of the most difficult aspects of being a musician, or a musical group, is to develop your own unique sound. Bands like Weather Report, Return To Forever and The Yellowjackets have had loyal fans due to the fact that their sound is easily and instantly identifiable. Since Midwesterners David King/b, Reid Anderson/b and Ethan Iverson/p formed The Bad Plus back in 1990, and released their first record in 03, they have been successfully intent on creating and maintaining their distinct musical personality. What makes The Bad Plus stand out among the other bands, however, is not only their sound, but their approach to song selection. Instead of solely writing their own tunes, or relying on jazz standards, they have taken the ecumenical approach of tackling seemingly disparate musical sources, such as David Bowie, Queen, and Blondie.
On their most recent release, “For All I Care” (Heads Up), TBP has taken this eclectic approach to its next level. Besides including various “classic rock” tunes like Yes’ “Long Distance Runaround” and Heart’s “Barracuda”, they have added a country tune (“Lock, Stock and Teardrops”), and, more importantly, have delved into 20th century classical music by doing interpretations of Stravinsky, Babbitt and Ligeti. Adding to the mix was the concept of including indie singer Wendy Lewis for a majority of the tunes, making this release their most diverse and experimental to date.
Bassist Reid Anderson, who has since moved from Minnesota’s frozen tundra to New York, explains the basis for changing the musical format for this release. “Over the last couple of years we’ve been talking about collaborating with someone,” he explains, “and we debated over the idea of having another instrumentalist. But, having a vocalist seemed more interesting, challenging, and logical to us as well, based on the stuff we’ve already done.”
The challenge for Anderson was to have a “guest artist” add to the sound of the band, but without losing their own coveted identity. Anderson understood the challenge involved, “A vocalist really defines the sound of the band, and our goal in doing this was to remain The Bad Plus and just happen to have a vocalist in there as well, as opposed to being a band backing up a vocalist. It’s not an easy balance to achieve.” The tendency of including a singer, particularly with an assertive band such as TBP would be to restrain the music a bit so as not to overwhelm the vocals, as Reid states, “ We wanted to not hold back the chops and let us fully do what we do, and have a singer there, too. In that sense, it was a challenge; it was a challenge to find the right singer. It was something that we gave a lot of thought to.”
It’s ironic that Anderson, who now lives in the Big Apple, found Lewis in her own hometown, “She’s another Minneapolis person. Dave and she played together about 10 years ago. I had remembered hearing that band, and I was always struck by the singing. So, when it came time to look for a singer, I thought of her, and said, “Hey, why don’t we ask Wendy?” It kind of made sense after that.”
It’s actually not that big of a surprise that TBP should find a suitable vocalist in Minnesota, as Minneapolis, believe it or not, has a thriving jazz scene. “It’s always been fortunate to have places like The Dakota, The Artist’s Quarter and The Walker Art Center, and so forth. There’s always a lot of great music coming through there, and I think that having a great scene is always connected with the kind of music that is available to be heard, and Minneapolis has some of the best, to be sure! We have a traditional post Christmas stint at the Dakota. We’ve done that for the last 8-9 years. It’s a great crowd, and a fantastic place, to be sure.”
The addition of Lewis has been beneficial to both parties, as Anderson claims, “it’s nice to have some feminine energy out on the road. We’ve done a bit of playing in Europe in Wendy. The record came out in the fall over there. It’s been fantastic, really great. All of our concerts are part of this project. It’s not “The New Bad Plus”. It’s just having her with us, and this record is a part of what we’re doing, so at all of our concerts we play a good chunk of straight Bad Plus material as well. We’re starting to tour with her here in the states. She loves it!”
The pairing of a vocalist with an established group has not been attempted many times in jazz. The most famous, and by far best collaboration, is of course the classic John Coltrane Quartet recording with Johnny Hartman. Anderson recalls that this desert island disc served as an inspiration for their new recording. “That’s something that we’ve all referenced to when we were thinking about this record,” he explains, “because that Coltrane/Johnny Hartman record, which is one of the greatest records of all time, is a great example of a band that had a very established sound of its own. The Coltrane Quartet with those four specific people was at the height of its powers, and to go into a date with a singer, I think, that’s why it’s such a special record. It’s THAT band, with such a strong band identity, and with adding an energy that a singer brings to the music.”
Likewise, to bring modern classical music into the mix was a groundbreaking task, as Reid states, “This is the first time we’ve done any classical music. It just made a lot of sense to us to put that music alongside the rock and country music that’s on the record. It’s really part of our whole belief that all of this music can all live together in the same room and make sense. The selection of classical composers like Legiti and Babbitt was quite a challenge, to the artists as well as their fans, as Reid says, “(Babbitt’s) not a composer most people have heard of. It’s twelve tone music, and not the easiest thing to get into. It’s not something that you just pop into the car stereo.”
As far as actually putting the music together, Reid states that the diverse musical styles brought their own challenges to the recording session, “the Yes tune was the most difficult; it’s between that and the Legeti piece, which is just incredibly hard to play. It’s the Legeti piece in terms of actual playing, and “Long Distance Runaround” in terms of concept and how we were going to do it. We were struggling with that one until the very end. How we were going to approach it. It was one of the few times that we went until the very last minute in trying to figure out what we were going to do.”
Such a diverse collection of music, which never would have been on a single jazz release just 10 years ago, is part of the purpose of The Bad Plus.” I think that it’s just a matter that these days people listen to so much music; people’s lives are filled with it. It’s not unusual that someone’s ipod has some classical music, traditional jazz ,hip hop and indie rock. I think we’re a product of that, we’re part of that generation too. We have eclectic habits of listening, and things that we’re into. We want to bring it out and be true to our life experience.”
Through it all, Reid keeps the band in perspective, “We always are conscious of the fact that we are lucky to be able to bring our own music out there into the world, and have people appreciate it. It’s fulfilling. The audience keeps you stimulated.” Check out the new disc, and catch them in town for their unique quartet tour.
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