New York, NY —

THE BAD PLUS | BENEVENTO/MATHIS/BARR TRIO
Post-Jazz / Post-Rock: The Musical Truth

The Bad Plus, post-jazz-prog adventurers
Marco Benevento, with bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Andrew Barr performing tunes from "Me, Not Me"

Merkin Hall
at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
» Tickets
» New Sounds Live 2008-2009 Concert Season

For the final concert of this year's New Sounds Live season, it's an all-out assault on the boundaries between jazz, prog, and indie rock. Two outfits, the Bad Plus, and Marco Benevento's Trio, promise to abuse and blow the dust off of pre-conceived conventions about what jazz should be. It's a spectacular post-jazz/post-prog/post-rock double bill.

The Bad Plus, who seem to have a reputation for either being naughty jazzers poking fun at rock, or rock troublemakers trying to shake up the dusty corners of jazz, or just guys who have broad and deep musical experiences, present their take on everything from Ligeti to Cobain, from Heart to Stravinsky.

Marco Benevento is probably best known as the keyboard playing half of the jammy-jazz Benevento-Russo Duo featuring Joe Russo on drums. When not on tour with Duo, Benevento re-imagines and expands the sonic palette of the piano by running it through pickups, delay and distortion pedals and a Fender Super Reverb Amp, with fellow collaborators bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Andrew Barr.
This performance will be taped for later broadcast on 93.9 FM WNYC.

The Bad Plus
is a collective made up of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King. All three are from the Midwest and they have known each other since their teens. Nonetheless, with the exception of one unimpressive meeting in 1990, it is only after spending their formative 20s apart -- King as member of the seminal indie jazz group Happy Apple, Iverson as the musical director for the Mark Morris Dance Group, Anderson as a prominent up-and-coming player on the New York jazz scene -- that they reunited in late 2000 to play a weekend club date in Minneapolis. The chemistry was immediate and obvious. They planned a second gig and a one-day recording session for the indie jazz label Fresh Sound and The Bad Plus was born.

Marco Benevento
Marco Benevento initially garnered national attention playing Hammond B-3 organ and Wurlitzer in The Benevento-Russo Duo, but he shifts the focus to acoustic piano with his own trio. Previously, he was a member of The Jazz Farmers, and has been a regular on the New York City contemporary, experimental jazz scene for years. He has performed with countless musicians which include, Matt Chamberlain, Charlie Hunter, John Medeski, Mike Gordon, Trey Anasatio, Eric Krasno, Wayne Krantz, John Ellis, Dave Dreiwitz, Mark Friedman, Reed Mathis, Bobby Previte, Ari Hoening, Terreon Gully, Brian Haas, DJ Olive, DJ Logic, Steven Bernsetin, Briggin Kraus, Lyrics Born, Mike Dillon, Les Claypool, Phil Lesh, Skerik, Johnny Vidacovich, Stanton Moore and others
In 2007, Benevento began a live residency at the New York club Tonic, which led to the August 2007 release of Live at Tonic, a three-CD set taken from those shows that ranges from traditional small-combo jazz to post-rock/experimental soundscapes. This in turn led Marco to form his own trio. Benevento is joined by bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Andrew Barr for the show.

Additional Resources:
» The Bad Plus’s site
» The Bad Plus Blog, "Do the Math"
» Marco Benevento’s site
» Marco Benevento’s MySpace
» New Sounds Live 2008-2009 Concert Season
» Merkin Hall