vintage

Well, this is many weeks overdue, but when am I ever on time with concert reviews? Man oh man. Sorry guys, I have been a real deadbeat.

On May 24, quirky Columbia Records jazz trio The Bad Plus rolled into Calgary for a show at 7th Ave jazz club Quincy’s. It was tight, energetic, and everything else you would expect from this startlingly innovative threesome. Lest I run out of adjectives too soon, though, let’s not forget the openers: Calgary’s own Sinistrio, a group of exceedingly talented local jazz players who were really well matched to their headliner. Matching the Bad Plus’ appetite for originality, their set included some pretty wild collective improvisations and a quite fantastic ballad in 11 (in 5 in the bridge, I believe).

When the Bad Plus were introduced (rather later in the night than many of us were expecting) the place sounded more like a rock venue than a jazz one, testament to the group’s successful merging of rock covers and influences with their original jazz sound. They’ve done covers of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”, and yes, Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”. They’ve done Tears for Fears and Neil Young, Bjork and Blondie, Aphex Twin and Queen, but somehow they still manage to be the freshest and most original jazz group I’ve heard in a very long time - and that was how they were that night too.

Their set was largely original compositions - all three are prolific and talented composers as well as performers, and have recorded a substantial amount of their own material in addition to their famous covers - and although there wasn’t as much material from their latest effort, Prog, as I would have liked, everything they did include was terrific (particularly “Dirty Blond” and “1972 Bronze Medallist”). Throughout the night, pianist Ethan Iverson took the mic between tunes, introducing the ones they were playing and providing a bit of background, taking care to introduce his fellow group members - bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King - multiple times throughout the night to assure everyone he was not stealing the spotlight.

Not that he doesn’t deserve it; all three should be getting as much spotlight as is affordable. King’s solos were completely ridiculous, for lack of better term; the time never wavered while he was performing superhuman feats of kit skills. A friend I was sitting with, a drummer himself, was sitting openmouthed for most of the show. They are that good.

Their final song was introduced again by Iverson, but he refused to tell us the name, only saying that we’d recognize it (everyone here, including myself, was hoping very hard it would be “Tom Sawyer”). He put the microphone down on top of the piano lid and continued to stand, back to the piano, facing the audience, as the tune started. For maybe two minutes he played scattered melody notes with one hand, staring deadpan and unmoving at the audience. Rather surreal. Then he sat down and really began to play, and then we realised: “Chariots of Fire”.

The Bad Plus are one of the few bands that can do a cover of “Chariots” - as their final tune, no less - and still make it seem like the coolest song ever to be played in jazz. Iverson’s giant block chords turned it into even more of an epic than would be expected, and by the end we were all converted to the church of Vangelis … okay, maybe not that far, but certainly to the cult of the trio on stage in front of us.

They did get called back for an encore, which was not a bit unexpected. Iverson came back to the mic with a bit of a mischievous smile. “Wow, you guys! You’re so nice here in Canada. We really like Canada. It’s pretty great. Okay, this next tune … is from Canada.”

The crowd went nuts.

Debates afterward followed whether Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” or the Bad Plus’ take on it (live, even more fabulous than on record) was better, and you know if this debate is happening in Canada it is probably pretty serious. The night was capped off by the house playing the original Rush tune after their set, of course. And what a night it was.

See them if you can. There’s nobody out there quite this fantastic, I promise.

Coming up: reviews of Sam Roberts’ Love at the End of the World and the Futureheads’ This Is Not The World!