These Are the Vistas

What makes this album great is the enrgy and how unique it is. This cd is like no other in my collection. I recommend seeing the group live they are tighter than most trios.

A common reaction to hearing about a jazz combo that covers Nirvana, Blondie and Black Sabbath is to assume the group is being ironic. The Bad Plus is not just slyly laughing at pop culture, they are connecting with the century long tradition of popular music providing the raw material for jazz improvisers. Scott Joplin worked with the quadrilles and marches of his day, Louis Armstrong covered all sorts of popular music, and John Coltrane took inspiration from a Rogers and Hammerstein song previously associated with Julie Andrews! At their best, The Bad Plus have the same effect: a listener is drawn in to consider the details they never noticed in these pop songs, inspiring us to look for nuance and fascination in the spidery cracks of a sidewalk. It's great stuff, masterfully played. Check it out.

I fell in love with this group instantaneously by listening to "1979 Semi-Finalist" on their album "Give." That particular album was phenomenal in general, and I have since become obsessed. "These Are The Vistas" is definitely a freshman effort, but still highly enjoyable. Not quite as refined and tasty as "Give," but imbued with the same proclivity for light-hearted complexities and the same willingness to just rock out. The cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is fantastic, but my favorite has track on the album has to be the Aphex Twin cover, "Flim." David King's drumming is fantastic; frenetic but totally under control. Not their best work, but overall an excellent album.

Just turned on to these guys and there is no denying their talent, both technically and conceptually. This album is so fun, smart and addicting. In short, Bad Plus makes you smile.

Poeple say they are tired of the same old same old...where here you are! The Apple reviewer seems to be putting them down in using the expression of "prerequisite pop tunes". If you get the chance to see them in concert it is like going to a magic show. You get mesmerized as to how do they do get so much sound out of three people? It is the "pop tunes" that bring you back to reality as you pick out a known melody. I think if John Coltrane was still with us he might of attempted to take on "Smells Like Teen Spirit". But not to many others...this is not for those that LOVE smooth jazz