The Bad Plus - Give (with Radio Edits) (2004)

Recorded in England after a stretch of continuous touring, Give is a more-than-worthy successor to 2003's These Are the Vistas, the major-label debut that launched the Bad Plus as a significant musical force. The Midwestern piano trio doesn't just link the worlds of abstract jazz and big-beat rock--instead, they smash them together, fusing bombast and subtlety with wit and art in consistently surprising ways. It's most apparent in the covers. The Pixies' "Velouria" develops a heady layer of Spanish impressionism, while Ornette Coleman's "Street Woman", showcasing Reid Anderson's propulsive bass, is much closer to jazz expectations--the early Paul Bley trio, say, if jazz expectations get that high. Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" becomes a manifesto, pianist Ethan Iverson combining the elementary theme with an anarchic, trip-hammer right hand straight from the playground of free jazz. The originals cover even more ground--from the colliding ironies of Iverson's "Cheney Piñata" to the sweetness of drummer David King's "Frog and Toad". Produced, like the last CD, by Tchad Blake, Give demonstrates just how effectively pop production values and jazz spontaneity can interact. King's drumming alone is a sonic and creative highlight throughout. Along with a new aesthetic, the Bad Plus has already begun to define a new audience, and this CD should both delight and enlarge it. --Stuart Broomer, Amazon.com