The
Bad Plus has been around for a considerable period if you
take into account their indie years before signing with
Columbia Records in 2003, longer still if you consider that
the members have known each other since they were in school.
The group’s first Columbia release, These are
the Vistas, made them well-known and something of a
cause célèbre among jazz and non-jazz listeners
alike. Critics and the music press fell all over themselves
declaring the group the next big thing while many jazzers
decried the group as a gimmick. In fact, these guys are
good musicians with a definite sound and definite ideas
about the way they approach music as a group. Not only did
the group take their covers repertoire from rock music rather
than the great American songbook, they operated more like
a rock group in many respects. Their cover of Nirvana’s
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” became a mainstay
of their live performances; the physical pianism of Ethan
Iverson and the Kenny Clarke-meets-Tony Williams drum work
of David King presented a muscular performance style that
was far from the lyricism of other new piano trios like
E.S.T. and Rachel Z or the ECM sound of Tord Gustafson.
“The covers give us an incredible amount
of freedom because they're very sturdy structures to hang
our sound on; to support the intentions of The Bad Plus,”
says Reid. “When we do a cover it becomes our music,
in a
way. “ (http://www.bighassle.com/publicity/a_bad_plus.html)
Sturdy structures to hang a sound on--that represents both
the strength and weakness of The Bad Plus. While the very
definable sound they have is a definite advantage for the
group, the fact that every song they play has been put through
the Bad Plus blender is problematic. When a musician such
as, say, Bill Evans plays a standard, he or she applies
a set of filters to their performance that signifies that
it is they who is performing the song. Without this ability,
a technically proficient or even gifted musician is unlikely
to make much of an impression on the listener. This is generally
done with the use of reharmonization, an ability to adapt
and develop the song’s melodic content, and often
the ability to play with rhythmic elements of the song.
The Bad Plus does these things, but ultimately the biggest
signifier of their performance is the kinetic, if not bombastic,
energy they bring to the material as well as the ability
to deconstruct the song by taking melodic elements out of
the song’s normal structure, often creating a new
vantage point for the listener. In a discussion with Stanley
Crouch from the group’s Do
The Math blog, Iverson and Crouch discuss the approach
that the group takes towards modern popular music that doesn’t
have the melodic or harmonic components necessary to be
interpreted by jazz musicians in the usual ways that I’ve
cited above. Crouch says: “you and Reid and Dave go
so far from the original tune that you aren't playing on
the form of the song. Your first phrase, after the melody,
is always totally "out." I find it really interesting
how your audience is shocked and exhilarated by the conclusions
you come to with a melody they already know…To me,
the conception of The Bad Plus is actually derived from
the way Coltrane and his band played "My Favorite Things,"
which is really far from hearing Julie Andrews sing it.
What Coltrane--what everybody in his band--was playing on
it is like…[shrugs] "What are they playing?"
--"'My Favorite Things.'" --"Where is 'My
Favorite Things' here? I don't get it." That's The
Bad Plus, too. (http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2007/02/interview_with_.html)
The biggest issue is that while “My Favorite Things”
was a mainstay of Coltrane’s repertoire for the entirety
of his career from the time he recorded it pretty much until
his death, he didn’t go to the well too many times,
while TBP has covered several rock songs over the course
of four albums. The Bad Plus certainly covers these songs
because of the sense of recognition that their audiences
will get from them, even if the song is deconstructed into
something else entirely. But they also come up with original
compositions that sound, in many ways, quite similar to
what they do with pop songs. They are good compositions,
many of them, but the question that sits in the room like
the proverbial 800-lb gorilla is this: without the covers,
would anyone have paid the kind of attention to this group
that they have received? The covers provided a hook that
drew in audiences and critics alike—mainstream media
was all over itself in praising These Are the Vistas. But
then, they wanted something different yet again. Now that
they’d heard this approach, they wanted the group
to do something else. But The Bad Plus doesn’t want
to do something else. They are a band that has recorded
a bunch of albums and played an unbelievable number of concert
dates together. This is generally a requirement for a group
to really become a unit and play together better with each
passing year. The most obvious example in the jazz world
right now would be Keith Jarrett’s Standards trio.
Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette are about to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of their collaboration, generally
recognized as one of the most influential jazz piano trios
in the music’s history. The group’s approach
is that of most jazz trios—that is to say that they
primarily take their repertoire from the standard tunes
written for Broadway, popular music, etc. during the first
half of the twentieth century. But, like the Bad Plus, Jarrett
and company do often deconstruct their material, doing much
more than the ‘head-solos-head’ arrangements
that so many bands do. They also have played together for
long enough to engage in group improvisations that often
sound as though they could have been composed—in fact
they have sometimes improvised entire performances (for
example, the 2002 release Always Let Me Go, performed live
in Japan). But I don’t hear anyone saying (or writing),
‘gee, the standards trio is so samey. They do so many
covers that they must be doing this in an ironic manner.
It’s time for them to grow up and do something else.”
Anyone who did this would be laughed out of the room. But
the very same arguments are used with The Bad Plus.
The old argument goes that it’s fine
to do what you want, but you should be able to play the
standards, swing, show you can hang with the dudes who came
up before you. I don’t think groups like The Bad Plus
explicity reject this idea, but they play music that comes
honestly from their backgrounds, their understanding of
the music that has influenced them, and, ultimtately, their
souls. To TBP, it makes sense to incorporate elements of
the progressive rock music they grew up with precisely because
they grew up with it. What you dig when you’re thirteen,
fifteen, eighteen—you will always dig. Why deny it?
Trumpeter Christian Scott, whose music is rhythmically informed
by hip-hop rather than swing, but whose music has a totally
jazz conception, says “My art is valid because I’m
valid.” And that’s a motto that’s informed
the careers of many musical outlaws, from Rahsaan Roland
Kirk to Miles Davis to Thelonious Monk.
From all of this you’d probably draw
the conclusion that I am a Bad Plus fan. Actually, I’m
not that big a fan. I don’t find their music terribly
interesting or exciting in large doses, but I recognize
that that could change as I continue to listen. There is
a lack of dynamic change, and a seeming reluctance for the
group to come to grips with ballads in any significant way,
and ultimately, I prefer E.S.T.’s groove-inflected
lyricism to the forcefulness of TBP. Whether the group will
be one of the greats or will get forgotten in the next decade
or two remains to be seen. But I do recognize that they
are serious about what they are doing and that, far from
being some kind of ironic joke, TBP is about creating their
own personal musical sound, which is what good musicians
should be all about.