photo: Cory Dewald

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“At the end of the day, the thing that we flexed the most was how much can you beat this thing out of the original shape of what it is—an iconic piano trio,” says The Bad Plus drummer and founding member, Dave King. “Now with Chris and Ben, that thing can explode.”

The “end of the day” for The Bad Plus as a piano-bass[1]drums trio ended up coming in the summer of 2021, with an announcement from King and founding bassist, Reid Anderson. Pianist Orrin Evans had recently left the group, and the trio decided to move forward as a quartet, welcoming Ben Monder on guitar and Chris Speed on tenor saxophone. That September, the foursome entered Power Station New England to record a new album. And, a year later, they released their eponymous LP, The Bad Plus.

This was the second time in the band’s two decades together that they had issued a self-titled album. The first, their 2001 debut, introduced the world to their patented sound—a mix of classically studious, yet improv-heavy original compositions and unexpected, loving covers of pop and rock acts ranging from Nirvana to ABBA. With original pianist Ethan Iverson, they stamped modern onto modern jazz, living on the road—with an average of over 150 dates per year—and cutting a dozen albums.

When a disenchanted Iverson left in 2017, they brought in Evans. The members of The Bad Plus released two more albums with their new lineup, cementing their stature as a preeminent force in the contemporary avant-garde world. They bulldozed boundaries, constantly expanding their sonic landscape and seemingly lock-tight arrangements to include white noise and classical overtones.

COVID-19 kept the trio home and contemplating a guest for their next studio effort. They’d worked with guitarists in the past—jamming with the likes of Bill Frisell—and even made a record with saxophonist Joshua Redman. Evans wasn’t keen on committing his time to a new album and amicably departed the trio. But, the idea of adding a guitarist and a saxophone stayed.

“It needed to be a clear break from [the piano],” Anderson says. “It felt like an opportunity for us to have a different palette and a different energy in the band.”

Old friends and close collaborators, Monder and Speed were easy choices. There were no auditions; this was the right fit.

Though they’ve written the majority of the ensemble’s repertoire, Anderson and King have always seen The Bad Plus as a leaderless outfit. Voraciously, they spent two decades challenging the tropes and traditions of a piano-centric model. The seismic shape-shifting of the band from three to four members only reinforced the value of their evolving and malleable original songbook.

“It is The Bad Plus,” King says. “But, clearly, it is no longer The Bad Plus.”

King admits that, though they decided to retire some tunes that simply worked better in a trio setting, he and Anderson were just as excited to write for two new instrumental voices. “It was risky, but that is the way we moved forward,” Anderson says.

Monder—whose vastly eclectic résumé veers from David Bowie to Guillermo Klein, Toots Thielemans and Maria Schneider—volleys cleverly between shreds of aggression and intriguing chordal atmospherics. Speed’s playing is a nuanced and cerebral embodiment of minimalism—a diametric counterweight to the cliché of a big boss tenor blowing over the top.

“In that way, it’s opened up some new possibilities for us more than it’s challenged us,” King says. “It becomes about utilizing the weapons we have with these two guys. One of our big things is that there is a song underneath what you’re trying to do, not just a puzzle and not just music just for the musicians.”

Each record in The Bad Plus catalog has its own distinct identity, sonically and compositionally. By design, the new album is self-titled; a not-so-subtle message of a rebirth. The changes greet the listener immediately: On the opening “Motivations II,” Anderson’s bass walks into a swirling state of mood and hushed dynamics, discovering and establishing a new landscape. “Sun Wall” follows with carbonated bursts from Monder and Speed, chased to the surface and releasing into the ether.

Anderson and King split the songwriting for the album’s eight tracks evenly. They were also conscious of providing an open context for Monder and Speed to be themselves. Quickly, the instrumentalists developed an interplay— melodically and harmonically— that feels almost preordained.

“What’s been exciting is to see Ben and Chris find their way,” Anderson says. “It is exciting to see how they naturally started interacting.”

More than ever, the band twists tradition without apology, maintaining a healthy and creative dialogue with rock and pop idioms. The newly minted quartet’s performances have also earned standing ovations. And Anderson and Davis—a pair of Minnesota natives reared in a community that, as Anderson says, “punches above its weight, culturally speaking”— are both comfortable with the group’s place, two decades and counting, within the living art form that is jazz in 2023.

With this album, and true to the founding ethos of the band, the pair seem to declare that The Bad Plus can be whatever they say it is.

“In the end, we want to make big-hearted music and music that has a kind of outreach. Even at our most avant-garde moments, it’s still us reaching out to the world, saying, ‘Hey, we think this is beautiful or compelling. This moves us, and that’s why we’re doing it,’” Anderson says. “We love this music. And we think you’ll love it, too.”