NEW ON CD
COLUMBIA
Insert from The Bad Plus CD "These are the Vistas."
Acoustic jazz trio
interprets old pop hits
"These Are the Vistas"
The Bad Plus
Columbia
This is an auspicious major-label debut of a trio who could've opted to be just another well-disciplined acoustic jazz band, but instead decided to put their own spin on several tunes outside of the genre.
It was one thing for Miles Davis to interpret pop hits by Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson, but it's another, more interesting decision for the Bad Plus not only to interpret attention-getters from Nirvana ("Smells Like Teen Spirit") and Blondie ("Heart of Glass"), but to take them a step further into the realm of electronica with Aphex Twin's "Flim."
Drummer David King really distinguishes himself on this album, particularly as showcased on "Flim." It's a charming interpretation as King approximates the original's chittery rhythm, dexterously reproduced on the snare and hi-hat cymbals.
Taking a quote from the album's brief liner notes, the Nirvana and Blondie covers are "ruthlessly deconstructed." The trio's avant-garde leanings keep things interesting overall, although the celebratory disco drive of the Blondie original bursts through near the end of their version before going out on a curious staccato drum pattern. I'd like to think Kurt Cobain would be pleased with the Bad Plus' sensitive, stentorian take on his late band's monster hit.
When you get past the covers, the band's original material is equally arresting in its inquisitiveness: the quiet, if insistent, growing and receding pulse of "Everywhere You Turn"; the obvious group chemistry heard on the ruminative "Guilty"; the jerky, scurrying "Boo-Wah"; and especially with "Silence Is the Question," a veritable dance of lines and rhythms that is truly amazing in its execution.
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