Search - Reid Anderson Quartet :: Abolish Bad Architecture

Hard to imagine . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 03/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

". . . this competent but unexceptional quartet spawning two of jazz's most distinguished new units, The Bad Plus and Fly, but this disc features two-thirds of the members of each: Ethan Iverson (piano) and Reid Anderson (bass) (Bad Plus); Mark Turner (tenor sax) and Jeff Ballard (drums) (Fly). And there are adumbrations of future moves by both groups: a certain edgy, eclectic irreverence in Iverson's piano playing and glimpses of a developing unique double-bass voice from Anderson that come fully to the fore on the Bad Plus's Vistas and Give; huge tonal weight and presence from Mark Turner's tenor sax and the jittery, polyrhythmic exoticism of Jeff Ballard's drums that characterize Fly. But a careful listen shows what a major contribution both Tchad Blake and David King brought to The Bad Plus, vaulting that band out of the typical conception of a jazz piano trio and into entirely new punk-pop-jazz-metal territory.The transformation of Turner and Ballard (with the addition of bassist Drew Gress, an essential component) into Fly, though probably not as sheerly dramatic, is nonetheless just as complete. They morph not in the direction of an out sonic assault, but toward edgy, rhythmically complex world jazz, a musical journey every bit as remarkable, if not so startling.If you want to hear where these four players were five years ago and get an idea of how they got to where they are today, as well as encounter some quite interesting and slightly out quartet jazz, you can't go wrong with Abolish Bad Architecture. 4 and 1/2 stars."

After listening to this some more . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 03/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . I've decided to raise my rating from 4 and 1/2 stars to a full 5 stars. These guys are all such wonderful players, and they're all at the top of their game; so what if they split up into two even better groups? It's just really intriguing to hear them beginning to work out stuff that later came to full fruition on The Bad Plus and Fly. Eminently worth hearing."