Today, the legendary jazz group The Bad Plus releases their new album Complex Emotions via Mack Avenue Records. The album is the boundary-defying quartet’s second LP with its current lineup of founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) along with Ben Monder (guitar) and Chris Speed (saxophone and clarinet) and its first with Mack Avenue Records. Next week, they will embark on their national tour which continues through 2025 and includes their annual four-night residency at the Dakota in their hometown of Minneapolis and five nights at New York City’s famed Birdland Jazz Club. For a full list of dates, please see below or visit thebadplus.com.
“With this new album and this new batch of music, we're planting a flag to say that this version of the band has really come into its own,” Anderson explains. “A big part of what the sound of this band is is the willingness to explore complex emotions. That's something that we're not only comfortable with but that we've embraced from the beginning of the band.”
Somewhat paradoxically, Complex Emotions strikes out in stunning new directions, often sounding radically different than anything The Bad Plus has done before, while at the same time maintaining the band’s vital and unmistakable identity. That the band can veer into so much unexplored terrain yet still emerge sounding like The Bad Plus on Complex Emotions is a testament to their finely crafted identity and insistence on constantly evolving. The new album has already garnered attention from BrooklynVegan, Jazziz, Bass Magazine, All About Jazz and many more.
Since their debut in 2000, The Bad Plus have pushed the boundaries of what jazz music could and should be. From their earliest days, their indelible compositions coexisted with an unconventional array of covers from outside of the strictly-policed jazz bubble: everything from Ornette Coleman to Black Sabbath to Aphex Twin, Cole Porter to the Pixies to Nirvana. Their now-legendary 2003 LP These Are the Vistas was named one of the 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade by NPR’s All Songs Considered, and now on their 18th album, the band is still making music that is wild and unexpected, with a refusal to conform to convention.
Tour Dates
November 12 - Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
November 13 - Portsmouth, NH @ Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club
November 14 - South Orange, NJ @ SOPAC
November 15 - St. Louis, MO @ City Winery
November 17 - Chicago, IL @ City Winery
November 30 - Orlando, FL @ Judson’s Live at Dr. Phillips
December 1 - Orlando, FL @ Judson’s Live at Dr. Phillips
December 25 - Minneapolis, MN @ Dakota
December 26 - Minneapolis, MN @ Dakota
December 27 - Minneapolis, MN @ Dakota
December 28 - Minneapolis, MN @ Dakota
February 6 - Pittsburgh, PA @ City Winery
February 7 - Cleveland, OH @ The Bop Stop
February 8 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Jazz Kitchen
February 9 - Franklin, TN @ Franklin Theatre
February 10 - Atlanta, GA @ City Winery
February 12 - Rochester, NY @ The Little Theatre
February 13 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
February 14 - Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square
February 15 - Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
February 16 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
February 18 - New York, NY @ Birdland Jazz Club
February 19 - New York, NY @ Birdland Jazz Club
February 20 - New York, NY @ Birdland Jazz Club
February 21 - New York, NY @ Birdland Jazz Club
February 22 - New York, NY @ Birdland Jazz Club
February 23 - Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall
March 22 - Las Vegas, NV @ Myron’s at The Smith Center
March 23 - Tucson, AZ @ The Century Room
March 24 - Phoenix, AZ @ Musical Instrument Museum
March 25 - Albuquerque, NM @ Outpost Performance Space
March 26 - Denver, CO @ Dazzle
March 27 - Denver, CO @ Dazzle
March 28 - Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Fest
Complex Emotions Tracklist
1. Grid/Ocean
2. French Horns
3. Casa Ben
4. Carrier
5. Cupcakes One
6. Tyrone’s Flamingo
7. Deep Water Sharks
8. Li Po
