Bad to the Bone!

This week, the Mark Morris Dance Group gives its 600th consecutive performance to live music with the world premiere of Morris’s "Seven Visions," a work for 15 dancers. Music is being provided by The Bad Plus, a boundary-smashing jazz trio known for its radical reconstructions of pop tunes. They stop by for a live performance in the WNYC studio. Speaking of blurring boundaries, last week it was announced that the Pulitzer Prizes for music are expanding, from focusing only on traditional concert music to also include theater music, film scores, and jazz, and even possibly jam sessions. The move has earned praise by some composers, but Village Voice music critic Kyle Gann has reservations. He joins us to discuss the implications of the move, and why the new definition may ignore a key constituency -- Downtown composers.
Additional Resources:
» The Bad Plus Web site
» Mark Morris at BAMM
» Kyle Gann’s Weblog