“Wouldn’t it be great to hear a jazz version of Led
Zeppelin?” That’s what Reid Anderson asked his bandmate Dave King, when
the two first played together in high school, two decades ago. “It’s
always been part of the jazz tradition to play the pop music of the
day,” Anderson says. Playing a mix of jazz covers of pop and rock
songs, along with original material, the jazz piano trio teamed up with
vocalist Wendy Lewis, a friend from the Minneapolis indie scene, for
its last record, For All I Care, released in February—the
duo’s first vocal album in the band’s almost 10-year history. As well
as its own jazz material, The Bad Plus has covered everything from
contemporary classical music like Stravinsky and Milton Babbitt to
contemporary classics Nirvana, Wilco and Aphex Twin.
The Bad Plus
Thursday, July 16, 9pm
Baronet Ballroom, Delta Halifax, 1990 Barrington $25-$30 at
atlanticjazzfestival.ca
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.