With the aggression of a rock band, the spontaneousness of a free jazz ensemble, and the catchiness of an alternative indie group, The Bad Plus have gone through many iterations throughout their multi-decade history. After coming to know them as an avant-garde jazz-rock piano power trio, a Somerville Crystal Ballroom audience was introduced to their newest configuration, with the piano replaced by Ben Monder on guitar and Chris Speed on tenor saxophone, expanding the group to a quartet, and spotlighting a new, layered, and lyrical sound.
Before The Bad Plus took the stage, legendary guitarist and composer Marc Ribot opened the night with his organ trio featuring Greg Lewis on Hammond B3 organ, and Chad Taylor on drums. Ribot’s style embedded in jazz vocabulary, but angular and gritty, was on full display. The ensemble gradually constructed instrumental grooves, developing motifs over the stretch of entire songs, giving a masterclass in restraint and suspense, and delicately dialing the energy levels. The set had an on-again-off-again relationship with swing, which made it all the more fun and surprising when the ensemble flirted with traditional jazz techniques, but subverted your expectations with crazy fills, arrhythmic interludes, and dramatic dynamic shifts.
The left hand of Greg Lewis on organ acted as the bass player would in a jazz ensemble, locked in with the ride cymbal of Chad Taylor on drums, driving the grooves forward and keeping the crowd head-bobbing along. Lewis gave the audience a crash course on the Hammond organ, showcasing what a truly great instrument it is, as he took it from mumbling bebop lines to shrieking chords that reverberated around the room thanks to the revolving Leslie speaker.
Ribot punctuated the set with barely amplified solo guitar interludes, spiky and avant-garde, before leading the trio into slowly developing grooves. At the end of the set, you were impressed by their cool riffs and effortless instrumentality, but were more thrilled by the restraint and suspense that built up the tunes slowly, and kept the audiences hooked on the ride.
A mixed-aged audience packed the venue for The Bad Plus, itself now over two decades old, demonstrating the band’s ability to bring together old jazz heads and young rockers alike. The new quartet configuration, with the piano replaced by guitar and saxophone, immediately showcased a more lyrical, legato sound, with the sharp power chords of the original piano trio being replaced with the round and warm guitar tone of Ben Monder.
The spontaneous interplay between the musicians was nimble and joyous, with founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King’s (drums) between-song-banter further confirming just how much fun they were having on stage. The group’s new single, “Anthem For The Earnest,” appeared second in the set. The upright bass endowed it with an earthy and acoustic roots vibe, but the deceptively simple repetitive riff gave it the energy of a rock song. Gutsy, rocking, but intricate and full of surprises characterized the single and their set in general.
Drawing from their 2022 self-titled album, “Not Even Close to Far Off” followed the new single. Primal and aggressive, Monder on guitar was equally capable of distorted, warped sounds, as he was at his delicate, fingerstyle textures. Chris Speed on tenor saxophone switched from the dulcet rounded lines of the opening tune to a raspy, growling tone. Clearly the result of playing together for decades, the group, especially founding members Reid Anderson and Dave King, achieve a liberated, untethered sound. At first listen, it sounds structureless and free, but examining the bones of the tunes, you’ll notice that there are strong structures, precise time signatures, and intricately developing motifs, all ornamented by the guitar’s glistening web of riffs and textures and the saxophone’s and cascading lines.
Making further departures from established time signatures, structures, and riffs, the tune “Sick Fire“ truly went postal. Sounding more like traditional free jazz, a tune like this revealed why they are often dubbed an “avant-garde” ensemble. Barely tonal, and with the energy of a thrash metal band, the ensemble embraced the chaos, and confronted the formlessness with curiosity and fearlessness. Think Ornette Coleman riding a bolt of lightning, electrified with distorted guitar and heavy power chords from the upright bass. A standout number in the evening, “Salvages,” was a great example of a middle ground between form and its absence. A tune held together by a time signature that alternated between 5/4 and 4/4, the musicians built grand musical structures over the top of this framework. While the improvisation at times became so out there it obscured the underlying structure, the musicians never completely lost sight of it, and would return to it in satisfying resolutions, taking the audience with them into unknown musical waters, but returning them safely home.
To be able to trust the musicality of your bandmates to venture out into unknown, unplanned improvised territories, and arrive home (or somewhere new altogether), is the signature mark of a seasoned, masterful ensemble. It was this adventurous and exploratory mood that permeated both Marc Ribot and The Bad Plus’ performance, making their appearance on the same bill a natural pairing. More than musicians, all the members of both ensembles were explorers, and the audience enthusiastic and grateful passengers on the journey.