Saturday evening post, again.
Here I sit, freshly stuffed full of peanut butter pretzels, an off kilter end to a mini grill-session that involved one too many brats. Family came into town last week to hit the Dakota Jazz Club and we got to talking about jazz we knew and loved. A consensus among my generation of the family was a love of Minneapolis natives The Bad Plus.
To my chagrin I had no idea they originated here. I simply stumbled across the album These Are The Vistas when my younger brother left it in his CD player he kept in the bathroom at my parents house. I was home on holiday from college and thought I'd play some tunes while getting ready for the day. Two tracks into the album and I had to pop open the tray to see who it was that sounded so good. Just a burned CD with Rudiger's handwriting scrawled across it, the name of the band and title of the album. While I had been more into punk and emo at the time, Rudiger was a big jazz fan, playing drums in his school's top rated jazz ensembles and flat-out being the best drummer I've ever had the fortune of playing with (sorry, Dan Olson, Rudiger wields more ferocity). Later that day I pestered him into burning me a copy to take back to my apartment in the Twin Cities.
The Bad Plus are a trio of talented and unconventional musicians from the Twin Cities who had known each other and played together for years but only formally formed the group in 2000. After a well received debut album, they released my favorite of their albums, These Are The Vistas, in 2003. Since then they've gone on to release five more albums, each one receiving more critical and commercial acclaim. They command top dollar on tour, they've played atypical forums such as (the now defunct) Late Night with Conan O'Brien and have pretty much established a rocknroll reputation for what outsiders perceive as too intellectual or too stiff and stuffy. The Bad Plus are highly, highly regarded for their intelligence and insight in the music world, which might put off your more casual listener who'd rather listen to mindless, indulgent drivel. Believe me, I can get behind drivel - just look at some of my old posts. But a lot of people dismiss jazz like this for being to in-its-own-head to be enjoyed.
Nuts to that.
These guys are phenomenal. They swing. They hammer. In essence, they rock. This particular album features not only a gorgeous version of Aphex Twin's 'Flim', a hurtling, frenetic take on the Blondie single 'Heart of Glass' but also a bizarre, brooding take on Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' that actually is pretty interesting to hear. As great as these tongue-in-cheek covers are, though, their real meat is their original material. I am absolutely enamored to this day with the first track on the album, the ominous and dark 'Big Eater'. I love the dynamics, the ups-and-downs of it, the back and forth verve of the whole song. They're in great form here.
Other albums have great things to offer, as well. More brooding and off kilter energy. Pixies covers. An album all about Prog Rock. You name it. I think as far as jazz goes, these guys are my far-and-away favorites, especially of this modern day. Give a listen and see if it doesn't hook you.
Here I sit, freshly stuffed full of peanut butter pretzels, an off kilter end to a mini grill-session that involved one too many brats. Family came into town last week to hit the Dakota Jazz Club and we got to talking about jazz we knew and loved. A consensus among my generation of the family was a love of Minneapolis natives The Bad Plus.
To my chagrin I had no idea they originated here. I simply stumbled across the album These Are The Vistas when my younger brother left it in his CD player he kept in the bathroom at my parents house. I was home on holiday from college and thought I'd play some tunes while getting ready for the day. Two tracks into the album and I had to pop open the tray to see who it was that sounded so good. Just a burned CD with Rudiger's handwriting scrawled across it, the name of the band and title of the album. While I had been more into punk and emo at the time, Rudiger was a big jazz fan, playing drums in his school's top rated jazz ensembles and flat-out being the best drummer I've ever had the fortune of playing with (sorry, Dan Olson, Rudiger wields more ferocity). Later that day I pestered him into burning me a copy to take back to my apartment in the Twin Cities.
Nuts to that.
These guys are phenomenal. They swing. They hammer. In essence, they rock. This particular album features not only a gorgeous version of Aphex Twin's 'Flim', a hurtling, frenetic take on the Blondie single 'Heart of Glass' but also a bizarre, brooding take on Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' that actually is pretty interesting to hear. As great as these tongue-in-cheek covers are, though, their real meat is their original material. I am absolutely enamored to this day with the first track on the album, the ominous and dark 'Big Eater'. I love the dynamics, the ups-and-downs of it, the back and forth verve of the whole song. They're in great form here.
