It's that time of year again...Paul, Luke and Luke's brother, Joey, and I went up to the big city on July 1st and had a great time. The Bad Plus came to town. L'Astral, the new venue at the festival site, was a perfect place for the band. Aside from seeing them play in your friend's garage (if that friend happens to have a 7 foot Yamaha lying around), I can think of no other festival venue I'd rather see them in than the new, elegant, not-too-small, not-too-big L'Astral.
The trio was born in Minneapolis in the early 2000s. Pianist Ethan Iverson, drummer Dave King, and bassist Reid Anderson had all grown up in the Midwest and had played together in the late '80s. But Anderson and Iverson left for New York - Iverson as the musical director of the Mark Morris Dance Group, Anderson as a jazz bassist becoming known for bold compositions and strong playing - while King stayed back in Minnesota straddling the indie rock and jazz scenes with his group Happy Apple. When they regrouped in 2000, it didn't take long for them to realize they had something special. Applying a rigorous standard of arrangement to the songs of their youth, they found a way of winking at both Bill Evans and Igor Stravinsky while covering Blondie.
In their rising recognition from 2003 to the present, the group has divided the jazz community. It seems you're either head over heels, or you're disparaging their "moronic backbeat" as jazz critic Bill Milkowski did when their second record, Give, came out in 2004 to critical acclaim. A new record, For All I Care - their fifth major release to date - is a departure. For the first time, they are joined by singer Wendy Lewis, a Midwest-based indie rock singer who has known drummer Dave King for years. "We could have met with a saxophonist or guitarist, but we decided to work with the human voice. Wendy's a natural - a strong musician who isn't afraid to mix it up with a challenging band," Iverson said.
It is clear that Lewis is a masterful musician. Singing with the Bad Plus is like catching waves moving in different directions - Iverson's often dense piano work feels like Pierre Boulez laughing at grunge rock - and she stays artfully afloat. On a tune like Wilco's Radio Cure, Lewis's rich voice swirls in the dark emotion of the lyrics. Relieved of carrying the song on their own, the band comes to life behind her with an artful improvisation that parallels the original tune. And their show last night at L'Astral was mostly what I had expected, which, when you're expecting a great show, isn't all that bad. But there were a few surprises.
First off, Dave King is an even more amazing drummer than I had imagined. His is the perfect balance between orchestrated drum work and bursts of improvised energy. Seeing his big smile behind the kit just before he plays some edgey off-kilter fill is priceless.
Second, they played a few songs I had never heard before.
The set started with their trio tunes--many from the new record, like the Stravinsky and Babbitt pieces that they re-invent. Once they invited Wendy Lewis on stage I thought they would simply play the remainder of the new record. But no, they had some new gems too. A tongue-in-cheek rendition of Blue Velvet was successful, even if it showed what great jazz players they are in a backwards kind of way. And the first encore, Heart of Gold, sung by Reid Anderson, was such a magical moment. The song ended with the four musicians singing the refrain of Heart of Gold ("Still searchin' for a heart of gold") singing in harmony without microphones. But it was their cover of "Comfortably Numb" that blew the four of us away It was so good, that Luke thought that they were every bit as good as E.S.T. You should get the album.
Check out the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdPGjRDgEN4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fsourceid%3Dnavclient%26rlz%3D1T4GGLR%5FenUS307US209%26q%3Dthe%2520bad%2520plus%2520comfortably%2520numb%26um%3D1%26ie%3D&feature=player_embedded
On our way out of the Bad Plus, while pushing through crowds at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, we stumbled past the Rio Tinto Alcan stage, where we were stopped in our tracks by an incredible sound: Uruguayan singer Inés Cánepa and her fabulous band. Cánepa sings what many would call "world music," but really she's just singing great songs in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Accompanied by classical guitar, bass, drums and accordion, the engaging singer - sporting a floral-print sundress, despite the rain - danced, laughed, and sang her genre-bending songs, riddled with hints of R&B, folk and trip-hop.
We also got to hear a group called The Project from Mexico. It had a drummer who played guitar and base and who sang. Very Spanish/Mexican/French and a lot of blues.
Earlier in the evening there was some good old blues at one of the outdoor stages. We saw some drunks, some old people, (like me), some youngsters, something of everything.
Kathleen and I go again tonight to see Eliane Elias. More on that later.
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