It's Hard

Description

2016 release. The Bad Plus’ eleventh studio recording, It’s Hard sees the
leaderless trio – bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer
David King – returning to the distinctive deconstruction of pop forms that
first drew them international attention almost two decades ago. Recorded this
past April at NYC’s Brooklyn Recording with longtime engineer Pete Rende
(Joshua Redman, Bill McHenry), the album spans both era and inspiration as The
Bad Plus offer new perspectives on classic songs from the 1970s to the 2010s.
While the four most recent Bad Plus albums have focused on predominantly
original material, It’s Hard showcases the trio’s inimitable gift for intrepid
and audacious interpretation. A lyrical take on Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream
It’s Over” stands alongside the motorik futurism of Kraftwerk’s “The Robots”
and the post-millennial indie creativity of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” and TV On
The Radio’s “Staring At The Sun,” altering pop, prog rock, country,
psychedelia, and more via an unmatched gift for wit, harmonic innovation and
rhythmic brilliance. Their expressive reading of Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones”
– coincidentally recorded a month before the legend’s untimely death – is a
potent tribute to a figure that loomed large in the lives of these Minnesotan
musicians. The Bad Plus has spent nearly two decades expanding the parameters
of what is expected of a piano-bass-drums trio. The genre-smashing band has
crafted a repertoire of innovative original music, along with a daring series
of iconoclastic covers spanning such diverse artists as Nirvana and Neil
Young, Aphex Twin and Ornette Coleman. No matter the material, The Bad Plus
continue to mine the very same aesthetic principles that inspired their
inception, exploring myriad musical forms through the unparalleled
interpretive power of jazz.

Features:

Product Details:

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 5 x 0.36 inches; 3.2 Ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Masterworks
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 45378768
• Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2016
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 49 minutes
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ July 1, 2016
• Label ‏ : ‎ Masterworks