Classic Recordings, The Bad Plus, 'These Are the Vistas'

Recorded during a quite different era in the band’s lineup - The Bad Plus now play as a quartet featuring founding members Reid Anderson on bass, David King on drums, and new bandmates saxophonist Chris Speed and guitarist Ben Monder - at the time of These Are the Vistas TBP was more of what you’d call a traditional piano trio, with pianist Ethan Iverson joining Anderson and King (Iverson was replaced by Orrin Evans for a brief spell following his departure in 2017). Its founding members all have fruitful careers as sidemen, with David King appearing behind the kit on guitarist Julian Lage’s Squint last year. This incarnation of the band with Iverson, Anderson and King first played together as early as 1989, but it wasn’t until the turn of the century that The Bad Plus was formed proper, recording their self-titled debut after only a handful of gigs together.

While these guys are ostensibly a jazz trio on this recording, by the time These Are the Vistas was recorded the group had already built up something of a reputation for their rock power trio ‘spirit’, in no small part due to their more alternative-leaning choice of cover material. While The Bad Plus aren’t the only jazz group to modernise their repertoire a bit, they were one of the few in the early 2000s to do so; Herbie Hancock himself also featured some material by Nirvana and Prince, among others, on his 1996 record The New Standard, while pianist Brad Mehldau also made some less orthodox material choices with his Art of the Trio series, which featured covers of Radiohead and Nick Drake. The Bad Plus’ debut included material as diverse as Nirvana classic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ABBA’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, and to cap things all off the band enlisted the help of producer Tchad Blake for These Are the Vistas - more so known for his work with pop and rock acts like Tom Waits and Pearl Jam than with jazz trios. An unorthodox choice for sure, but one that only speaks to their more alternative sensibilities.

Photo by Josh Goleman

While the trio bring plenty of their own material to the table, there’s a lot to be said for The Bad Plus’ re-arrangement of pop and rock tunes on These Are the Vistas. The trio tackle ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ again on their sophomore, which translates surprisingly well into the piano trio format - and although you'll not struggle to pick out the familiar vocal melody, TBP’s complete re-organising of the song keeps it from feeling too stale if you’re already well-acquainted with the original. Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ later in the tracklist is similarly shaken up - if not completely flipped on its head - having only the most surface-level similarities to the original track, Debbie Harry’s vocal melody transcribed over to piano being the only guiding light through the band’s extremely liberal interpretation. One cover that keeps the original song relatively intact is ‘Flim’, originally by electronic producer Aphex Twin (aka Richard D. James). With the original being a relatively straightforward arrangement in itself - namely a sampled drum kit, synth bass and a chord/lead synth - it translates rather well over to The Bad Plus’ trio formation, albeit into a slightly scrappier acoustic rendering. David King shines particularly bright on this track as he just about manages to keep up with the original’s frenetic drum & bass-style programming, while James’ melodic tendencies also cross well over into Iverson’s piano - see the later Aphex track ‘Avril 14th’ and you’ll hear his work has always sounded rather good on piano.

The Bad Plus don’t just lean on the strengths of their cover material, though - the trio’s original works bolster that same punkish energy with each member’s tunes all having their own subtle character to them. Anderson’s prove to be some of the most diverse; the ballsy opener ‘Big Eater’ centres itself around a syncopated rhythm as Dave King thrashes away on his kit, while the more dynamic closer ‘Silence is the Question’ begins gently before the trio soar off into a dramatic close. King’s own ‘Keep the Bugs Off Your Glass and the Bears Off Your Ass’ plays it more bluesy, and has some absolutely wicked bass work from Anderson, while Iverson’s two tunes feature some of the more avant-garde and playful moments of the record. Hearing the three play off each other, particularly in each other’s compositions, it’s a shame this chapter of The Bad Plus eventually came to an end, but it’s this era of the band that put them on the map.