From Do the Math, the blog of the inimitable The Bad Plus:
For All I Care
Our latest is officially released in the US today.
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Reviews:
Rolling Stone (“…It’s about as badass as highbrow gets”)
Boston Globe (“Bringing in an unknown vocalist, Minneapolis alt-rocker Wendy Lewis, may sound like a risk, but it works exceedingly well”)
The Globe and Mail (“Long Distance Runaround, a Yes tune that seems both windy and rambling in the original, comes across here as a deftly modulated meditation on love and trust, while the Bee Gees’ How Deep Is Your Love is a minor masterpiece, transforming the breezy romance of the original into heartbreaking melancholy, until the chorus hook takes on the emotional weight of a Mahler adagio”)
The Hurst Review (“…The great triumph here, as with all the past Bad Plus albums, is that, as much as this music gives the surface illusion of bucking jazz conventions, it actually does nothing if not capture the anarchic spirit of jazz at its best”)
Jazz.about.com (“The trio makes this thorny Milton Babbitt piece [Semi-simple Variations] rock. The arrangement is a great example of how well the group combines influences of the 20th century. Its not clear if it should be classified as experimental classical, experimental rock, or experimental jazz”)
LiveDaily (“…They’re as serious about Stravinsky as they are about Kurt Cobain. Therein lies their strength”)
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I cannot wait for this album.  I’ve been digging on 2004’s Give for the last month, with it’s bombastic take on Black Sabbath’s Iron Man.  If only they were coming to Florida.
Tags: albums, the bad plus
