Music Mondays: because life’s better with a soundtrack.

It’s hard for someone like me to answer the asinine inquiry: who’s your favorite band? It’s not something I can easily narrow down. It’s not like asking which cut of the pig I like most (pork belly, my friend) or which variant of metal leaf gets me all warm and fuzzy (silver or bust).

But if you pressed me pretty hard, I’d likely tell you it’s The Bad Plus.

When I was in grad school, eating, sleeping and breathing jazz, I burnt out on the standards. Now, I have no problem with tunes like Stella and Someday My Prince Will Come and Autumn Leaves. They’re wonderful tunes, but I was just plain sick of them.

Then I discovered The Bad Plus.

They were in the jazz section of the record store (remember those?), but this ain’t your pappy’s jazz.

It was their recording of Aphex Twin’s Flim from 2003’s These Are The Vistas that made me a convert. And even Bill Milkowski’s (a writer whose corpus I generally hold in high regard) scathing critique of the band wasn’t enough to sway me.

The Bad Plus made the piano trio relevant again. Even to my artless peers.

Their whole discography’s pretty incredible. Their covers are par excellence. 

If your interest is piqued, start here: