Dec 8 2018
The Bad Plus are in Lexington and you should be too
This Sunday, December 9th, The Bad Plus are making a tour stop in Lexington. They’re supporting their new album Never Stop II, but the series of shows also has the benefit of helping the trio gel. When drummer Dave King, bassist Reid Anderson and pianist Orrin Evans perform Sunday evening at the Lexington Children’s Theatre, it will be as a new working unit. It’s kind of a big deal. Even in the context of jazz, where musicians must learn to collaborate with changing personnel while still taking their initial baby steps with their instrument, the fact is trio members of The Bad Plus have been together for decades. So, with Orrin Evans having replacing founding member Ethan Iverson, there’s gonna be an acclimation period, and a tour is the kind of thing to help that along right quick. The upside to all that is it’s the kind of thing that can lead to some fun surprises during the performance.
Another upside is that we get to see Orrin Evans perform live. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve recommended his music on this site (and my various other platforms), and so I’m personally thrilled to finally get to hear him in person. Concerts or CDs, I don’t favor one over the other. I am just as happy kicking back at home listening to music as I am going to a venue to hear it live, but they can lead to very different connections with the music. I get to round out that experience on Sunday.
I’m also excited to get to see Dave King behind the drum set again. Kevin Coultas, former Music Director at WXOX-FM (and who now has his own blog) told me years ago that I should go see The Bad Plus in concert for no other reason than to watch Dave King in action. When I saw the trio perform as part of a larger ensemble at the Chicago Jazz Festival several years ago, I finally understood what Kevin was alluding to. Some musicians react physically to the release of music, and some more than others. For the most part, there’s nothing particularly compelling about this. But there are rare instances when a musician’s physical reaction perfectly captures the poetry of the moment, and the intangible is given corporeal form. During that CJF performance, Dave King was the living embodiment of that music. Not saying that’s gonna happen on Sunday. Just throwing that out there.
The Bad Plus are one of those bands who have established some genuine crossover appeal. Your friend who is mostly into indie-rock and post-punk, but keeps her ear open to other kinds of music? The Bad Plus will be one of the jazz acts on her radar. And for good reason, the Bad Plus were one of a handful of acts who were offering up a concrete vision of where they thought the modern jazz scene could go, and doing it at a time when modern jazz had hit a certain lull. That this sound incorporated rock standards and current pop hits only amplified the trio’s reach to non-jazz ears.
Even though Orrin Evans is The Bad Plus’s new pianist, he’s not new to the scene. It’s weird to learn that Downbeat just voted him this year as the winner of the Rising Star category, because as readers of this site know, Evans’ has been recording excellent music for years. Dude’s star been risen. He’s got close to thirty albums with his stamp on it. He’s been releasing stuff lately on the excellent Smoke Sessions Records label, with both his big band and smaller ensembles. What do I appreciate most about this guy’s music? That even when his music gets further away from a traditional jazz sound it always keeps a close proximity to the blues. And when his music plants itself dead center in jazz territory, well, the blues is there, too.
As mentioned previously, they’re touring in support of their “debut” as a new trio. The title Never Stop II is a reference to their sole album that is comprised by only original material, no covers. That’s the case here, too. And while some of their covers of pop music were pretty damn cool, honestly, I’d rather hear the sounds that have been bubbling up in their heads all these years. And with Evans now in the mix, it seems like an opportune time get all that out there.
Never Stop II isn’t a huge departure from previous The Bad Plus recordings, so fans of what was aren’t going to be let down by what is. That said, the Evans composition “Boffadem” provides a nifty vision of one potential new direction the trio could embark upon.
Their new album is available at Amazon.
This show is part of the Origins Jazz Series, which has been bringing some intriguing shows to the Lexington scene.
Show Details:
Who: The Bad Plus
When: Sunday, December 9th, 2018
Time: 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Lexington Children’s Theater, 418 West Short Street, Lexington, KY, 40507
Cost: $25 (buy tickets here)
Learn more about the Origins Jazz Series.
Here’s a video from a recent performance in Stockholm. It’s shaky but in the spirit.
Apr 5 2019
Lock in your Lexington Saturday night plans: Friends & Neighbors at The Kentucky School
It would be a pretty good idea to be in Lexington, KY on Saturday night. The quintet Friends & Neighbors is gonna be in town tomorrow night for an April 6th show at The Kentucky School. The Norwegian group will bring their intriguing mix of old-school free jazz and new-school avant-bop. The cadences and whirlwind free-for-all echoes the 1960s improvisational era when names like Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry were obliterating conventional jazz structures, but there’s a stomp and a sway to their music that reflects the modern approach of warping traditional music into something far less familiar. But, hell, there’s not going to be any test, so don’t feel compelled to learn or understand anything I just typed. What’s most important is to know that this is a band that has tons of energy and performs music that’ll be lively and fun and electric. It’s exactly the kind of show you want to spend your Saturday night enjoying.
The show is going down at The Kentucky School, over in the North Limestone neighborhood and sharing the same intersection as Al’s Bar, Arcadium, Beach House and North Lime Donuts.
This is the 15-year anniversary, and Event #209, of Ross Compton’s Outside the Spotlight series. Ross is one of those local music scene heroes who devotes a ton of sweatwork bringing great music to his community. There have been a ridiculous wealth of talent from the experimental and jazz pool that has performed in Lexington because of Ross’s efforts. And most of those shows, like this one, is free to the public.
The shows happens tomorrow, Saturday, April 6th. Doors open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7pm.
The band is: Thomas Johansson (trumpet), André Roligheten (tenor saxophone & clarinets), Oscar Grönberg (piano), Jon Rune Strøm (double bass) and Tollef Østvang (drums).
Here’s a track off their solid 2016 release What’s Wrong? We have no way of knowing what any one live show will ultimately sound like, but here’s a sense of what’s what:
You can buy this album on Amazon. It was released by Clean Feed Records, and you can buy the album direct from their store.
The show details:
When: Saturday, April 6th, 2019 at 7:00pm
Where: The Kentucky School. 607 North Limestone, Lexington, KY.
It’s a free show.
The Facebook Event page-> LINK
The Kentucky School’s site-> LINK
The artist’s site-> LINK
Here’s a video from their gig at the Portalegre JazzFest 2017…
And take note, this show is just the precursor of many other excellent shows coming through Lexington over the next sixty days. That list includes:
Details for all of the above shows to follow soon.
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By davesumner • Announcement - Music, Jazz in Kentucky, Live Jazz • 0 • Tags: Jazz in Kentucky