The Bad Plus recently released a video of a live performance with guest Joshua Redman on tenor sax. The song is an original of theirs entitled People Like You and the concert was from July 21st at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh.
For me this song was a stand out from their 2010 release Never Stop. To begin, the melody is arrestingly beautiful. Simplicity has always cut to the core of me and it is something I value as a listener, a teacher, and a performer myself. It is one thing to impress me with a showcase of blistering technique, but it's quite another to stop me in my tracks with note choice and musicality as this song does. Secondly, the title is a wonderful example of how enunciation can dramatically change the context of the phrase. For example: People Like You, or People Like You, or People Like You. This means that the song's title is open to interpretation, and in this sense it leaves the emotional impact of the song up for grabs as well.
The original recording did not feature Joshua Redman, but his sensational and visceral playing only amplifies the composition's emotional and literal crescendo.
Everything The Bad Plus comes into contact with becomes magical and laden with emotions of every color. Furthermore, no musical language is off limits for their capable hands. With jazz standards, rock and roll, stunning original compositions, and ingenious arrangements of classical master works, The Bad Plus is a prime example of how music is the universal human language.
I am thrilled at the prospect seeing their next performance on August 2nd in NYC at Damrosch Park, the outdoor performance venue of Lincoln Center on W 62nd St, (between Columbus and Amsterdam Aves). The set list for this concert is the trio's take on Igor Stravinsky's watershed 20th century classical composition The Rite of Spring. The original premier of the work set people to riot in the concert hall; I can't wait to see what The Bad Plus does with this work. Get more information regarding the event here. See you there, you dig?