Jazz, Plus more
Trio turns jazz on its head — and throws in an Aphex Twin cover
Melissa Martin

Since bursting onto the international scene in 2003, The Bad Plus has been called “the loudest piano trio ever,” a that distinction doesn’t necessarily apply to volume.

Even when the music was delicate at the band’s Dec. 29 gig at The Venue, the wildly eclectic sound of The Bad Plus was still a screaming beacon in the jazz wilderness.

Led by pianist Ethan Iverson, the trio of Midwesterners effortlessly dished out an hour and a half of music with zany appeal. While Iverson’s deceptively simple piano lines and Reid Anderson’s melodic bass certainly soared, the trio’s true star is drummer Dave King, whose wildly inventive, dizzyingly complex patterns provided an anchor and centrepiece for the outfit’s sound.

Perhaps what truly sets The Bad Plus apart, though, is the group’s off-kilter sense of hip. King’s highly physical performance included the seemingly random use of laugh-getting props, and their wacky song descriptions made each esoteric piece memorable in its own right. Among the night’s gems were tunes about thrift-store jewelry and a matador who slays a bull only to discover that he must face a charging rhinoceros; Iverson’s piano and Anderson’s thumping bass then provoked the audience’s imagination to hilarious effect.

Elsewhere in the performance, which earned a standing ovation and enthusiastic exhortations, the trio also performed a pair of clever covers. You might never have imagined a jazz trio playing Aphex Twin, but The Bad Plus did so with gusto. Iverson, Anderson and King also closed the show with a rendition of Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire, from their 2005 album, Suspicious Activity.