Deliciousretouch Plus

21 years after their landmark first appearance as a genre exploding piano-bass-drums trio, the ever adventurous The Bad Plus have reinvented themselves as a dynamic quartet with the addition of guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Chris Speed. This new iteration of the group makes its vital eponymous debut now, as always, challenging convention by pushing their inimitable approach to jazz in boundary-breaking new directions. Though the components may have changed, what remains is The Bad Plus’s unique musical language and their undeniable drive and intent. Having re-contextualized their own chemistry, The Bad Plus not only affirms the band’s continuing relevance and longevity, it burns bright on its own terms as an extraordinarily powerful debut from an all-new creative force to be reckoned with.

Kind of an offshoot of the Marc Moulin world of the early 70s - the self-titled album from Plus, a group made up of musicians from the funky combo Placebo! The vibe is much more open than Placebo, but still shares lots of that group's great talent for mixing together jazz, funk, and trippy bits of prog - all in a way that's never too overindulgent, and always with a nice punch on most of the cuts - so that there's plenty of funky moments too! Drums are great, keeping things very interesting - and the horn passages run from Afro-styled lines with a nice exotic quality, to straighter jazz rock - augmented by some gritty vocals from time to time - in a raspy style that's kind of a 70s update of soulful UK mod styles of the previous generation.

For longtime fans of genre-bending jazz piano trio the Bad Plus, 2016's It's Hard will feel pleasantly familiar. Once again showcasing the talents of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King, It's Hard finds the Bad Plus reworking a set of well-curated pop covers. In that sense, the album fits nicely next to the group's previous covers albums, all of which helped build their reputation as a maverick, forward-thinking outfit unafraid to recontextualize both modern pop songs and traditional acoustic jazz. Particularly effective here is the trio's languid, impressionistic take on Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over."