The Bad Plus is a unique piano trio that straddles jazz, rock, and classical and at their best combines all three.  In their most recent album, For All I Care, they are joined by vocalist Wendy Lewis who sings on a number of rock covers.  (Here was my review of the album.) Wendy Lewis is joining them on their current tour and Sandeep and I saw their Chicago show at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Friday 4/17 (the early show at 8PM.)

The show began with the trio alone playing some older tunes as well as the three classical pieces on For All I Care, Stravinsky’s Variation d’Appollon, Ligety’s Fem, and Semi-Simple Variations by Milton Babbitt.  This was an enjoyable mini-set and worth the price of admission, although in my opinion the band was not in top form.  The pianist Ethan Iverson was having somewhat of an off-night and failed to find the main groove on the improvised parts of “You Are” and “Dirty Blonde.”  His trademark foundation-shifting flourishes lose their punch without a smooth and deliberate buildup from the point of departure.  On the other hand, the classical pieces were all very tight and were the highlight of the show.  There was one new tune, an Ethan Iverson composition entitled “Bill Hickman at Home.”  This was a blues number with a very nice extended bass solo from Reid Anderson and some great playing from Iverson too.

Wendy Lewis joined halfway through the set and the band began with Lithium which also opens the album.  She successfully navigated the tempo changes that add an additional slant to the Nirvana original and her usual flat delivery worked well in this tune as it did for Kurt Cobain.  Up next was the Yes classic Long Distance Runaround, another very clever arrangement in which the jazzy instrumental part dissolves into a slow backdrop for Lewis’ powerful vocals.  Unfortunately these were the last successful combinations until the fiery encore of Barracuda which was also the best tune on the album.  The pretty chorus on Wilco’s Radio Cure could not recover from the dull, almost spoken-word delivery of the opening verses.  (Fortunately, at the end of the song the trio left her behind with a searching group-improvisation that began with drummer Dave King mysteriously massaging his skins with his elbow, built up to Iverson’s hands flying all over the keyboard and finished with a very satisfied audience.)

The next tune, Blue Velvet (not on the album) was a puzzling choice.  Wendy Lewis is a skillful vocalist and she can sing big on tunes like Barracuda, but her voice is not right for this song:  too flat and emotionless.  Finally, Comfortably Numb is one of the strong points of the album but on stage it was straightforward, uninspired rendition.

The Bad Plus are making some of the most innovative music in jazz today.  They are to be commended for experimenting, however in my opinion this experiment did not pay off.  I am looking forward to the next one.