The Bad Plus : Where Jazz/Fusion Meets Prog Rock...Strange Yet Awesome.
I like jazz music. There. I said it. Mock me if you must, but you might reconsider after this post!
Top 40 Music Sucks! reports that jazz/fusion trio The Bad Plus (w/ Mike Stern) will be coming to The International Jazz Festival in Montreal on June 28th 2007.
And that's a good thing.
But be warned : these guys aren't your run-of-the-mill, beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping jazz/fusion trio (N.B. I have nothing against people who wear berets and/or drink cappuccino, some of my best friends wear berets and/or drink cappuccino)
I started listening to The Bad Plus when their critically-acclaimed 2003 release, These Are The Vistas came out on Columbia Records. Their originals songs as well as their jazz-infused rock and pop classics are, to me, akin to throwing spaghetti to the wall and hoping it sticks.
And fuck does it ever.
Their cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had me quite apprehensive at first, but taken for what it is, it's a pretty awesome song. I just love it how everything goes from being so mellow one second, to totally chaotic the next. Blissfully chaotic even.
On "Give", their 2004 release, was right up there with "Vistas" and this for one reason, explained in two words :
Iron Man
Their Black Sabbath cover once again proves to be quite an interesting take on the original (you can never best the Sabbath though. Even Sabbath can't best the Sabbath).
The Bad Plus's next release, due May 8th 2007, is called PROG, and for good reason. It covers songs by legends like Tears For Fears, David Bowie and of course....RUSH. Their cover of Tom Sawyer once again puts a new spin on an old classic (and a favorite of mine too!)
Who knew that jazz could rock so hard?
Here's a link to clips of songs from PROG as well as comments from the band.
And your daily free samples :
