The Bad Plus Archive

The Bad Plus – It’s Hard – Okeh/Sony Music

by Audiophile Audition | Oct 3, 2016 | Jazz CD Reviews

The Bad Plus deliver an all-covers album with lots of surprises. The Bad Plus – It’s Hard [TrackList follows] – Okeh/Sony Music 88985 337142, 40:56 [8/26/16] *****: (Reid Anderson – double bass/ Ethan Iverson – piano/David King – drums) What would you think of an all-covers album which includes music from Barry Manilow, Peter Gabriel, Johnny Cash and other tunes from outside the typical jazz realm? Some could try such a broad mixture, and fail. But with the Bad Plus, the result is the band’s 11th studio recording, It’s Hard, the threesome’s first all-covers project and another stellar and adventurous release. Those untutored with this trio’s eclectic stretch of influences might consider a 40-minute, 11-track collection of interpretations of music external to the jazz domain to be somewhat of a stunt. That kind of criticism has been leveled at bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King since the trio’s major label 2003 debut, These Are the Vistas, which had audacious versions of Nirvana’s grunge-rock anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” Anyone who has spent time with the Bad Plus realize they are way beyond any sense of novelty. In reality, the Bad Plus […]