A few weeks ago I got an album by The Bad Plus from a friend of mine. I didn’t catch too much from them but had heard things like their cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and ended up writing them off as a novelty thing, although great jazz musicians. Later I was searching my dad’s CD collection and stumbled on 4 volumes of NPR’s All Songs Considered. Somewhere in there I heard your song of the day for January 12th, 2008.
MP3: The Bad Plus – “The Big Eater”
The Bad Plus are a group of midwesterners, the bassist and drummer growing up in Minnesota and the pianist hailing from the great state of Wisconsin. Mixing rock, experimental and especially jazz theory into a volatile mix like this yielded amazing originality and success for the three. I had the honor of listening to three of their albums today and, while I decided my favorite was 2003’s These Are The Vistas, each one holds its own. Their songs are all truly small adventures–always keeping the listener guessing what will come next. Like a slightly less experimental and more traditional MMW, The Bad Plus gets creative and taps at the often overlooked “Contemporary Jazz” genre. I will forever have a special place in my music collection for these guys.
MP3: The Bad Plus – “Keep the Bugs Off Your Glass and Bears…”
MP3: The Bad Plus – “1972 Bronze Medalist” (awesome)
MP3: The Bad Plus – “Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana Cover)”
The Bad Plus: Home | MySpace | iTunes | Amazon
Here’s them doing a cover of Aphex Twin’s “Flim”:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=sX_Iij8Eyts[/youtube]