The Bad Plus: Performance Perspectives Clinic

The Bad Plus has exploded all notions of what a jazz piano trio should sound like—whether at outdoor rock festivals, jazz clubs, or symphony halls.

The Los Angeles Times ranked the trio “among the leaders of what might be called the Nu Jazz movement.” Newsweek declared its 2005 release Suspicious Activity? to be “among the freshest sounding albums of the year.” And according to Rolling Stone, “By any standard, jazz or otherwise, this is mighty, moving music … hot players with hard-rock hearts.” In short, a diverse array of music lovers has been seduced by the Bad Plus and its earnest, dizzying musicianship.

The group dug its roots in the wood-paneled, sump-pumped basements of the Midwest. Drummer David King and bassist Reid Anderson hooked up as teens in their native Minnesota, bouncing between junior high rock bands and long nights listening to John Coltrane and the Police. Soon after, Anderson met Wisconsin-reared pianist Ethan Iverson and formed an alliance—sort of. The threesome played for the first time in 1990, then went their separate ways for the better part of the decade.