The Bad Plus are calling it a day, but Reid Anderson and Dave King haven’t lost their sense of humour. Asked what comes after the band, the founding members briefly entertain the idea of starting an oil company. There are a few details to resolve. Finding the oil, for one. Working out how to extract it would probably help, too.
The real plan involves more music. Before that, The Bad Plus bring their farewell tour to Sydney’s City Recital Hall on Thursday, October 22, with special guests GODTET. It’s part of their final Australian visit, bringing more than a quarter of a century together to a close.
For Anderson and King, the decision to stop was mutual.
“We’d rather kind of go out on our own terms and have the band sounding great and feel proud of the work we’ve done,” they explain.
Founding bassist Anderson and drummer King now perform alongside guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed, in a quartet that has replaced the group’s earlier piano-led configuration.
This version of The Bad Plus has spent roughly five years playing around the world, but it has never made it to Australia. The pair estimate it has been about a decade since their last visit. Sydney audiences will be hearing where the band has gone in that time, rather than simply revisiting where it began.
Their reputation as jazz rule breakers isn’t quite how they see themselves.
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“For us it was never about being rule breakers. It was just about being ourselves and doing what we were interested in.”
Their respect for jazz and its traditions has always left room for other influences. What mattered was finding a sound that reflected their own lives.
“It’s okay to like what you like and you don’t have to think so hierarchically.”
A composition could be intricate or simple, expansive or stripped back. The important thing was committing to it, rather than ruling it out because it didn’t align with a particular understanding of musical history.
Asked what Anderson can do musically that nobody else can, King points to the combination of his instrumental ability and his writing.
“Having a composer on that level that plays the bass on that level is rarefied,” King says.
Anderson returns the compliment, describing King as a “completely personal, unique, and really profound composer” whose gifts extend beyond the drums.
“Dave is an artist, like capital A.”
Both have maintained projects outside The Bad Plus, though sustaining a working, touring group has limited the time available to pursue them. Now there is an opportunity to give those ideas more attention, and a sense that it shouldn’t be postponed indefinitely.
The Bad Plus has occupied half their lives. It is the name through which much of the world knows them. Walking away means giving up a familiar working rhythm without knowing whether whatever follows will find the same audience.
“We are stepping into the unknown,” they acknowledge.
There are practical moments they haven’t quite wrapped their heads around: the possibility of a festival invitation arriving when there is no longer a band to accept it, for instance. After thousands of concerts, they hope there will be time to appreciate what they made and the principles they held onto while making it.
The Bad Plus perform at City Recital Hall, Sydney, on Thursday, October 22, with special guests GODTET. Tickets are available through City Recital Hall.
