"...What if a jazz band refused to put itself in the genre's usual ghetto, but branched out to embrace the backbeats of rock and the melodic qualities of pop? And what if they did so in a way that didn't compromise any of jazz's improvisational adventure? That's what the Bad Plus has done. And the result has made this trio...one of the most acclaimed new jazz bands in memory." — New York Daily News

Dave King, Photo by Andrea Canter

It was just a few years ago that three young musicians with Midwest roots joined (or rejoined) together to create music that stretched the boundaries of modern jazz like elastic. They made two low-profile recordings before all hell broke loose with a big-label, chart-topping CD, These Are the Vistas (Columbia, 2003). And it wasn't a fluke, as The Bad Plus proved with more commanding sets for Columbia, Give,(2004)and Suspicious Activity (2005). The Bad Plus is a totally original, daring, and—above all—increasingly sophisticated melding of high talent and hot combustion. Bringing a surreal yet symphonic approach to an original and "borrowed" repertoire, this acoustic trio features Ethan Iverson's gorgeous, percussive piano, Reid Anderson's often-melodious, never laid-back acoustic bass, and the incredible resumé of rhythm and sound from Dave King's drum menagerie, all united in the spirit of true collaboration. After up for their early March tour of Europe, the Bad Plus will bring this spirit back to the American West with Yoshi's in Oakland (March 28th-29th) and at Catalina's Bar in Los Angeles (March 30th - April 2nd) and then back up to the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz (April 3rd).

Bad Plus, Photo by Andrea Canter

At least in instrumentation and compatibility, the Bad Plus resembles the great trios of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and, in a more modern vernacular, Keith Jarrett. And if you listen for a while, you might even hear some homage paid to those masters, particularly Jarrett. Of their contemporaries, the Bad Plus sometimes has been compared to the very hot Swedish trio, E.S.T. (Esbjorn Svensson Trio), a group that fuses acoustics and electronics, yet emerges with a softer, less edgy result than their all-acoustic American cousins.

But American audiences, and particularly music critics, have expressed highly divergent opinions about this band, in part due to an overpowering urge to classify each new phenomenon into one genre or the other and to distrust rapid rises in popularity. Is this jazz? Is it rock? Is it serious music? And is the sudden hype explosion warranted? The April 2004 issue of Jazz Times summed up the dilemma of the Bad Plus, particularly the questions regarding the worth --and the "white" roots--of their music: Tad Hendrickson praised their "dynamic sound, risk-taking approach, choice of covers, and refreshing showmanship," while Bill Milkowski published a diatribe condemning the trio as "relevant for white rock scribes and other assorted geeks... a one joke movie whose premise runs thin all too quickly." In that same issue, critic John Murph noted that "the Bad Plus is a highly engaging, at times, emotionally poignant piano trio, capable of absorbing many disparate genres without pandering to the lowest-common denominator...Yet you can't deny that their scruffy, East Village looks and explicit love for rocked-up sonic exploits and compositions strike a favorable chord with many white editors and writers at major mainstream publications..."

Other critics and musicians have defended the Bad Plus as riding a tidal wave of well-deserved, if quickly earned, acclaim. Former jamming buddy pianist Craig Taborn notes that "What they're doing is honest, because they are not trying to appropriate a cultural thing..." And suggested Josh Weiner (All About Jazz), "The people griping about their success ... are the same type of self-appointed jazz Pharisee who once thought Coltrane's ‘sheets of sound' were an exercise in ugliness, who saw Bitches Brew as a betrayal, and who found Ornette to be a charlatan..." Says Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson, "Jazz has always reached out to other musical styles and used them for its own purposes...There are some people who want to freeze the development of jazz and only allow it to be one thing and you can hear it in their music. The rest of us are just trying to communicate beauty through music." One thing is certain about the Bad Plus—they sell records, they fill clubs and concert halls, and they are striking happily cacophonous chords with highly diverse audiences, including young rock fans, bringing considerable (and global) attention to jazz at a time when jazz could use more support.

Who are these guys who have graced the covers of both Downbeat and Jazz Times, whose recording Give has earned a Grammy nomination for its engineering; whose story has hit Newsweek, the New Yorker, Esquire, and Rolling Stone; who have appeared on CBS's Saturday Early Show; and and who in the confines of one year played the Village Vanguard, Newport Jazz Festival, and Kennedy Center?

Dave King, Photo by Andrea Canter

Anderson and King grew up in Minneapolis and jammed together as teenagers, listening to such bands as Mike and the Mechanics and Sting, and then turning to modal music and free jazz. Eventually they went their separate ways, Anderson heading to Philadelphia where he studied classical bass at the Curtis Institute of Music and Iverson jumping into the music scene in New York, while King found plenty of outlets around home. After graduating from Curtis in 1993, Reid Anderson moved to New York, where he played with other up-and-coming musicians such as Mark Turner, Jorge Rossy, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and, yes, Ethan Iverson, and led groups at Smalls that included future star pianist Orrin Evans. He's been the leader on three recordings for Fresh Sound, including Dirty Show Tunes, Abolish Bad Architecture, and The Vastness of Space, and has performed and recorded with numerous artists. Says David Adler (All About Jazz), Reid Anderson is "a bassist and composer of rare gifts who simply must be heard and appreciated by a wider audience."

Meanwhile, Dave King worked as a session musician in LA in the early 90s before returning to the Twin Cities, where he is the Energizer Bunny of drummers, both in terms of his frenetic musical wizardry and his simultaneous association with no less than eight bands. Most notable has been Happy Apple (Youth Oriented), with saxophonist Michael Lewis and bassist Adam Linz, a band straddling avant garde jazz and alternative rock with an immense following among the 20-something generation. King also is or has been involved in the work of jazz-oriented Electric Bill (with Bill Carrothers), F*K*G, and Siamese Fighting Fish; rock bands 12 Rods, Love-cars, and Halloween Alaska; and an atonal five-piece ensemble, Dave King's Trucking Company. Recently, he recorded and performed in France with Ursus Minor, featuring Jeff Beck, and finds time for private drum instruction. Traditional approaches to percussion have never appealed to King, whose technique is described by Matt Peiken (St. Paul Pioneer Press) as relying "on incredible finger control to nuance his fills, which often defy the neat subdivisions of typical beats." Similarly idiocyncratic is King's collection of instruments. As a teenager, his "kit" was built from an array of pots and pans. With Happy Apple, he added assorted children's toys that he shakes, twirls, and strikes to create an unusual, but effective sonic palette. "The sounds of these things does something to me -- seriously, Fisher-Price and I should get together," says King. "...I want to use my hands like a painter or a sculptor, and I'm absolutely not interested in doing things one way."