The Good and The Bad Plus
When I was invited to shoot an in-studio performance by The Bad Plus for NPR-affiliate KPLU in Seattle, Wash., I didn’t hesitate to accept. This is one of the most unique groups to emerge in the jazz genre in years. Describing it, in fact, forces one to retreat to a thesaurus.
The Bad Plus — bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King — is raucous, unexpected, often mind-bending music. Wendy Lewis, an indie-rock singer, joins them on their latest record, “For All I Know” on Heads Up. They are well known for their rock covers (Kurt Cobain’s “Lithium” is on the new disc), but that term really unfairly pigeon holes them.
This is Iverson, from his piano’s perspective:
Nikon D700, 200 mm f2.0 lens, ISO 2000, 1/320th at f2.0.
