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The Bad Plus

It's Hard

Sony Masterworks

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The Bad Plus: The Band That Never Stops
1 Maps (Karen Lee Orzolek, Brian Chase, Nick Zinner)
2 Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman)
4 I Walk The Line (Johnny Cash)
5 Alfombra Magica (Bill McHenry)
6 The Beautiful Ones (Prince)
7 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
8 Staring At The Sun (Tunde Adebimpe, David Sitek)
9 Mandy (Richard Kerr, Scott English)
10 The Robots (Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos)
11 Broken Shadows (Ornette Coleman)
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OKeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks has announced the release of the eagerly awaited new album by The Bad Plus. IT'S HARD arrives in stores and at all leading digital retailers on August 26th. The Bad Plus' eleventh studio recording IT'S HARD sees the leaderless trio – bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King – returning to the distinctive deconstruction of pop forms that drew their first international attention almost two decades ago. Recorded this past April at NYC's Brooklyn Recording with longtime engineer Pete Rende (Joshua Redman, Bill McHenry), the album spans both era and inspiration as The Bad Plus offer new perspectives on classic songs from the 1970s to the 2010s.

 

  • The Bad Plus blow up a storm at Ronnie Scott's / jazzwise
    Posted At: November 13, 2023 12:00 AM
    The new-look Quartet showcase their signature blend of avant-garde jazz with rock and indie influencesjazzwise - Tom Spargo writes….Back in the year 2000, The Bad Plus was originally founded as a trio consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, double bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King. Since Iverson left the trio in 2017, the group has, after a period of flux, morphed into a pianoless quartet now featur...
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  • Founding members of The Bad Plus: Dave King and Reid Anderson chat with the JAZZIZ Podcast
    Posted At: October 5, 2022 12:00 AM
    The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It’s a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let’s take it from the top.JAZZIZ - MATT MICUCCI writes…Dave King and Reid Anderson on The JAZZIZ Podcast: Dave King and Reid Anderson, founding members of The Bad Plus, joined us on the latest episode of The JAZZIZ Podcast to talk about the band’s reinvention ...
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  • The Bad Plus - Hurricane Birds makes 'NPR Best Live Sessions of 2020'
    Posted At: December 16, 2020 12:00 AM

    It was a tough year for live music, but NPR's Member stations across the country managed to produce some great radio sessions before and during the pandemic. Here are the best of the bunch, featuring studio performances, home recordings and socially-distanced outdoor sets. Includes; The Bad Plus, "Hurricane Birds.' "Hurricane Birds" was filmed at the storied Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. We wer...
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  • The Bad Plus confirm their 2020 spring tour / NYSMusic
    Posted At: February 19, 2020 12:00 AM

    The American jazz trio The Bad Plus confirmed their 2020 spring tour following the release of their second album, ACTIVATE INFINITY, which was released in October of 2019. The spring tour will include a multi-show residency at Village Vanguard in New York City for six consecutive days. The tour will begin on March 19th in  Kenosha, WI at the Bedford Concert Hall and will wrap up on April 12th in...
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  • 'Sgt. Pepper' reunites former Bad Plus pianist; Ethan Iverson with his mentor, choreographer; Mark Morris / Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Posted At: January 22, 2020 12:00 AM

    Choreographer Mark Morris was "an adorable child" (his words) when he first heard "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Jazz pianist and composer Ethan Iverson hadn't been born when it was released. Decades later, they came together over the Beatles' masterpiece to make something new. "Pepperland" arrives Saturday at the Northrop in Minneapolis, with 17 dancers, a singer, six musicians (Morris per...
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  • The Bad Plus - Activate Infinity makes chestnut hill local: five favorite records and catchiest song of 2019
    Posted At: January 2, 2020 12:00 AM

    chestnut hill's Pete Mazzaccaro would normally follow the critical convention of calling this a "best of" list, but that would be dishonest. To be candid, he simply doesn't feel like he's listened to enough popular music this year to make that sort of judgment. What he can do, however, is list his own personal favorites. There have been a lot of good records released this year, and these are ...
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  • The Bad Plus & The Comet Is Coming make RollingStone's 'many sounds of jazz listener guide' for 2019
    Posted At: December 11, 2019 12:00 AM

    New forms of protest song, fresh strains of fusion, and more. Our look at the currents that shaped the genre this year, and the must-hear releases that exemplified them. We look back at the prevailing currents that shaped jazz in 2019, and survey the standout albums Jazz continued to explode in 2019, shooting off in countless directions. There wasn't one dominant trend, sound, or scene in the genre t...
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  • Fresh off their inaugural album, Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson are set for six performances at Spoleto Festival USA / Charleston Post and Courier
    Posted At: June 4, 2019 12:00 AM

    Monk and Coltrane. Hancock and Shorter. Fitzgerald and Armstrong. Jazz has a long tradition of legendary duos. Now, saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson are looking to place their own stamp on jazz royalty. Fresh off the release of their inaugural album "Temporary Kings," Turner and Iverson are tapping into a format that will allow them to learn more about themselves and each other as musici...
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  • The Bad Plus returns to Israel / The Jerusalem Post
    Posted At: April 7, 2019 12:00 AM

    Good chemistry is hard to come by, especially in the jazz world. Every successful jazz trio starts off as a blind chemistry experiment: add equal parts piano, bass and drums. Stir gently. Observe. The chances of obtaining conclusive results are typically slim; however, there is nothing typical about Reid Anderson, Dave King and Ethan Iverson, founding members of the decades-long, boundary-pushing coopera...
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  • The Bad Plus talk amongst themselves at the Portland Jazz Festival / Oregon Music News
    Posted At: February 23, 2019 12:00 AM

    The 2019 BIAMP PDX Jazz Festival – set for Wednesday, February 20 through Sunday, March 3 – includes a wide array of artists headlining the 16th annual event, which celebrates Black History Month.  2018 heralded a new and exciting chapter for the The Bad Plus consisting of founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) and new member Orrin Evans&...
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  • Mark Turner and Ethan Iverson sound like Stravinsky and the blues / Washington Post
    Posted At: September 6, 2018 12:00 AM

    "Temporary Kings," the debut album from saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson, finds these two quiet killers immersed in a deep, fragile, highly focused form of play. They sound like they're building a house of cards in the void. And while that kind of intimacy should feel shocking from a partnership so new, these guys go back. The duo began crossing paths at jam sessions in New York in the l...
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  • Audiences gather in a tiny garage for Spectrum's Modern Piano (+) Festival / The New York Times, pulse.com
    Posted At: June 27, 2018 12:00 AM

    Chatter about the future of classical music tends to focus on major orchestras and opera companies, and how they can entice new audiences. But there has always been another layer of activity - call it the classical music underground - in which dedicated artists and curious audiences gather in small, offbeat spaces for adventurous programs. One of the smallest and most offbeat is Spectrum, across the ...
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  • JazzTimes says farewell to the original Bad Plus, and looks forward to a bold new era
    Posted At: March 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    It was a familiar parade. On Dec. 27, the founding members of the Bad Plus-pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King-walked single file along the upper banquette at New York's Village Vanguard toward the stage for their first set of the evening. They were dressed much like I first saw them at the club in February of 2003-the week Columbia Records released the group's major-label ...
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  • The Bad Plus make their 2.0 debut in D.C. at Blues Alley / Washington Post
    Posted At: March 12, 2018 12:00 AM

    Five months after the Bad Plus 1.0's farewell D.C. appearance, the Bad Plus 2.0 made their debut D.C. appearance: Friday night at Blues Alley. The difference was substantial. Original pianist Ethan Iverson had quit the trio (leaving bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King), to be succeeded by established master Orrin Evans. At the farewell gig, even knowing Iverson's departure was imminent, it was ea...
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  • Spotify's plan to go public, could generate $23 billion but doesn't address artist grumbling / RollingStone
    Posted At: March 8, 2018 12:00 AM

    Spotify's plan to go public filed last week, could generate $23 billion and make the world's biggest record labels hundreds of millions of dollars richer - but the Swedish streaming giant has yet to soothe grumbling and litigious artists and songwriters who say its royalty payments are unfairly low. "They rigged it so they don't pay the artist," David Crosby tells Rolling Stone. "I've los...
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  • The Dave King Trio set for Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver / The Georgia Straight
    Posted At: February 15, 2018 12:00 AM

    Like all the best drummers, Dave King seems animated by an inner spark-but while a lot of his peers save their inspiration for the sticks and skids, his finds expression in many curious ways. Not only does he play with jazz innovators the Bad Plus, he's part of five other bands, including two of his own, the extroverted, sax-heavy Dave King Trucking Company and the somewhat more traditional, piano-based ...
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  • first listen to The Bad Plus - Never Stop II on NPR
    Posted At: January 12, 2018 12:00 AM

    A continuity and a break: That's the history of The Bad Plus in a nutshell. An acoustic piano trio with the combustion properties of a post-punk band, it emerged in the early 2000s to an uproar - its surging attack and shrewd repertoire were framed as a radical split from the jazz tradition. Gradually a more perceptive view emerged, one that acknowledged where the band was really coming from. p...
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  • The new Bad Plus. Slimming its sound and tightening its shapes / The New York Times
    Posted At: January 4, 2018 12:00 AM

    The Bad Plus was nearing the end of its first set at the Village Vanguard on Saturday night when one spirited fan spoke up between songs. "We'll miss you, Ian!" he shouted to the pianist, Ethan Iverson, whose nearly 18-year tenure with this influential trio reached its end the following night. The drummer Dave King called back with a grin: "His name's Ethan." Mr. Iverson looked unmoved, then put his ...
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  • Christmas and New Year's at Village Vanguard with The Bad Plus / jambands
    Posted At: December 24, 2017 12:00 AM

    The Bad Plus will kick off their annual New Year's run of shows at New York's Village Vanguard tomorrow, December 25. The trio-Reid Anderson (bass), Ethan Iverson (piano) and Dave King (drums)--will sub for the The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, who usually hold down Monday nights at the storied venue, for a special Christmas with The Bad Plus and will remain at the jazz joint through December 31. The Bad Plus...
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  • A band's last stand / The New York Times
    Posted At: December 22, 2017 12:00 AM

    Since the early 2000s, the Bad Plus has been one of the easiest entities in jazz to have an opinion about. The acoustic trio is fond of inside-out pop covers and original compositions that range from jagged angularity to jocose lyricism. With Ethan Iverson on piano, Reid Anderson on bass and Dave King on drums, the group has stayed tightly bound: It has never played a gig with a substitute musician. But ...
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  • This year's Bad Plus Christmastime performances at the Dakota have a somewhat bittersweet quality / Twin Cities Pioneer Press
    Posted At: December 21, 2017 12:00 AM

    At the Dakota Jazz Club on Thursday night, Christmas stockings were hung over the stage with care … because the Bad Plus fans knew their favorite Yuletide band would soon be there. …The BP, who played their first gigs as a group 17 years ago at the Dakota's old St. Paul location, return each holiday season for multi-night stands at the downtown Minneapolis club. This year's Christmasti...
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  • The Bad Plus prepare for final shows with original lineup / Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Posted At: December 14, 2017 12:00 AM

    Every Christmas for 18 years, the internationally famed jazz band the Bad Plus - with Reid Anderson on bass, Ethan Iverson on piano, Dave King on drums - has played Minnesota's Dakota Jazz Club. "Dave called me in 2000 and said he had two friends coming into town for the holidays to record some stuff," Dakota owner Lowell Pickett recalled. "He wanted to know if they could play a couple of nights." Lowell...
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  • The Bad Plus. Ending its first long chapter on a spectacular high / San Francisco Classical Voice
    Posted At: November 7, 2017 12:00 AM

    As hard as it is saying goodbye to the long-running triumvirate of The Bad Plus, I can't say I'm not thrilled to hear the new lineup when founding pianist Ethan Iverson steps aside for Philadelphia's Orrin Evans next year. The collective trio, with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, is in the midst of an international farewell tour that concludes with the trio's traditional year-ending run...
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  • The Bad Plus as we know it, scheduled for demolition / JazzTimes
    Posted At: July 21, 2017 12:00 AM

    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} On April 9, the Philadelphia-based pianist Orrin Evans tweeted, "I have so much to say but I'll wait until tomorrow :)!!" What was he about to announce? A new album? A teaching position? Turns out it was something few in the jazz community could have anticipated. The following day, it was revealed that, startin...
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  • Bad Plus make 'The Edinburgh Reporter's' top 5 sessions at J&BFest
    Posted At: June 28, 2017 12:00 AM

    This year Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival is celebrating the Centenary of Jazz – and the history of the Blues. Jazz 100 offers historic concerts, New Orleans comes to Edinburgh in the shape of a host of musicians from the birthplace of jazz, Cross the Tracks blurs the boundaries between jazz and contemporary music, and Scottish Jazz Expo celebrates Scottish jazz musicians. There's something for e...
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  • After 17 years, The Bad Plus does subtraction and addition / WBGO
    Posted At: April 10, 2017 12:00 AM

    For the last 17 years, The Bad Plus has been a model of musical cohesion. Its members - bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King - have been an indivisible front, welcoming the occasional guest but never a substitute, according to the strictest ideal of a working band. As the saying goes, it has always been larger than the sum of its parts. But change is now on the visible hori...
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  • The Bad Plus set for Binghamton - Anderson Center / Press & Sun-Bulletin
    Posted At: March 29, 2017 12:00 AM

    Eclectic trio The Bad Plus will bring its blend of avant-garde jazz with rock and pop influences to the Binghamton University's - Ithaca NY,  Anderson Center on Sunday afternoon. Based in New York City, The Bad Plus first performed with Reid Anderson (bass), David King (drums) and Ethan Iverson (piano) in 1990 but reunited in 2000 as a full-time band. The leaderless trio garnered internation...
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  • The Bad Plus set for Jefferson Center / Roanoke Times
    Posted At: March 27, 2017 12:00 AM

    The Bad Plus (Bassist Reid Anderson, drummer Dave King and pianist Ethan Iverson), hits Roanoke's Jefferson Center on Thursday March 30. All from the Minneapolis area each had forged careers of their own in the jazz world. Anderson and Iverson were leading their own projects in New York City, while King had moved back home from Los Angeles after the 1994 earthquake. At the turn of the ...
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  • The Bad Plus 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' makes Paste - 8 great jazz covers of pop songs
    Posted At: March 1, 2017 12:00 AM

    Over the last few years, jazzy covers of modern-day pop tunes with accompanying 1920s-style videos have been trending all over the internet. Despite this recent surge in popularity, covering pop songs and re-arranging them using staples of jazz and swing styles has actually been a trend for a while. Musicians past and present have recognized the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities that jazz can offer the...
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  • The Bad Plus set for SF Performances & Herbst Theatre / SFGATE
    Posted At: January 21, 2017 12:00 AM

    Rolling Stone summed it all up: "It's about as badass as highbrow gets." Returning to SF Performances on Saturday Jan 21, this boundaries-testing, style-expanding trio avidly explores and innovates sonic sources encompassing jazz, pop, blues, folk and the classics the band calls "the rarest of hybrids: intelligent music for the masses." The Bad Plus came together at the end of the 20th century and ha...
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  • The Bad Plus set to bend genres in Bend OR / Bend Bulletin
    Posted At: January 13, 2017 12:00 AM

    A lot has changed for The Bad Plus since 2008's "For All I Care" - the band's last album to prominently feature its deconstructions of modern pop and rock tunes. Since then, the piano-bass-drums jazz trio has released four albums of all-original material, including 2015's collaboration with saxophonist Joshua Redman, and tackled Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" both live and in stud...
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  • The Bad Plus set for Denver shows at Dazzle / Westword
    Posted At: January 11, 2017 12:00 AM

    Celebrated American jazz trio the Bad Plus knows no limits when it comes to taking on a variety of sounds, styles and genres. Riffing on other people's tunes is nothing new in jazz, but the breadth of musical interests that bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King bring to their collaboration makes the group stand out. The Bad Plus are set for 2 shows at Denver's Da...
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  • The Bad Plus set for 'Dazzle Jazz' shows / Denver Post
    Posted At: January 6, 2017 12:00 AM

    January is typically a quiet month for jazz in Denver, but The boundary-pushing piano trio The Bad Plus has two nights scheduled at Dazzle Jazz ON Jan. 17-18. Pianist Ethan Iverson, drummer Dave King and bassist Reid Anderson are known for their audacious covers of rock songs made famous by names like Black Sabbath and Radiohead. Their latest release, "It's Hard," consists solely of covers, mos...
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  • The Bad Plus return to Jazz Bistro for annual 4 night run / St. Louis Post - Dispatch
    Posted At: December 30, 2016 12:00 AM

    Pianist Ethan Iverson is best known as a member of the Bad Plus, a jazz trio that has pulled off the not-so-easy trick of attracting a young audience to an art form whose cultural relevance is constantly in question. Also featuring bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, the rock-influenced band has established a solid St. Louis following and will return to Ferring Jazz Bistro on Wednesday for its a...
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  • The Bad Plus are home for the holidays / Minnesota Public Radio
    Posted At: December 22, 2016 12:00 AM

    The Bad Plus are home this week for 4 nights at the dakota and today's Minnesota Public Radio - Morning Edition is covering. LISTEN TO THE PIECE TRANSCRIPT - Morning Edition music is from "Rhinosaurus is My Profession" by the Bad Plus. They're a jazz trio that started here in Minnesota, but they're now based in New York City. They're home for the holidays, though, playing a set of eig...
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  • Bad Plus set for holiday run at dakota & VILLAGE Vanguard / Jazz Police
    Posted At: December 21, 2016 12:00 AM

    After 17 years of collaboration, global touring, acclaimed recordings, even controversy as to their relationship to "real jazz," The Bad Plus still ranks as one of the most popular genre-bending ensembles in modern music. With their unique approach to original composition and arrangements of pop covers, the trio has been compared to other ensembles that seem to appeal as much to young rockers as middle-a...
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