Our bloggy, jazzy radio friend out in San Diego, Vince Outlaw, is interviewing both Dave King (7:15 PM Pacific) from The Bad Plus and Lizz Wright (6:15 PM Pacific), live on The New Jazz Thing tonight on KSDS.

Listen from anywhere in the world via webcast. More details on Vince's site here.

The Bad Plus has a cool new CD out on Columbia called These Are the Vistas. Here's a bit of their bio from the trio's website:

The Bad Plus is comprised of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King, three post-modern jazz iconoclasts who combine keen wit, dynamic musical contrasts, and an original sensibility in what's been called "the loudest piano trio ever." Drawing inspiration from the worlds of dance, pop, and rock, The Bad Plus gracefully avoid the stigma of "fusion," instead deconstructing their influences in a steadfastly pure jazz idiom all their own.

Anderson, Iverson, and King originally hail from Minnesota (Reid and David) and Wisconsin (Ethan), speaking (and playing) as though of one voice, calling themselves "three best friends with a mission." And the mission, according to the band, is to create "a party, a vigil, an attack craft, a landmass." Anderson and Iverson (who's also worked as musical director for the world-renowned modern dance ensemble the Mark Morris Dance Group) currently in live New York with King remaining in Minneapolis.

The roots of The Bad Plus date back to circa 1984 when Dave first heard Reid sing in a junior high school rock band showcase. By 1989 or so, Reid and Ethan were playing amateur free jazz in various restaurants in America's Dairy Land. 1990 marks Dave, Reid and Ethan's inauspicious first musical encounter. In 2000, technically the last year of the old century, "the stars align and The Bad Plus reduces, congeals and solidifies." The initial result was the group's eponymous debut album, released on Fresh Sound, a Spanish independent label, in August 2001. A 2002 performance at New York's Village Vanguard led The Bad Plus into a relationship with Columbia Records.

With These Are The Vistas, the group's major label debut, The Bad Plus unveil original compositions from each band member and newly-recorded versions of three of their trademark "deconstructions" of classic pop: an elegiac wraithlike "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a mayhem-riddled "Heart of Glass," and a startling rendition of Aphex Twin's "Flim" showcasing both a surgical precision and a rhythmic abandon. When it comes time to select and arrange cover tunes, "We consult an oracle, then duke it out together. We think you should only be limited by imagination, not by style." Referring to the Stephen Collier paintings which serve as cover art and visual analog for These Are The Vistas, they remark, "'Robonaut'" is sad and lonely.' 'Binary Unit' is happy and bright. 'Ord' is dark, strong and immoveable."

page 1 | 2