A Conversation with The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson – HuffPost 11.5.12

Mike Ragogna: We’ve got the pianist from that rad, mad and badass group, The Bad Plus. Hey there, Ethan!

Ethan Iverson: How are you doing? Thank you for that great intro.

MR: Any time! I only stopped because I ran out of rhyme-y superlatives. You need about six more.

EI: Oh, wow, man thank you.

MR: [laughs] First off, I possibly admire you most because of your scary time signatures and because you wander into prog rock band at times.

EI: Well, I’m glad our time signatures scared you, because I have to tell you, I can barely follow them myself sometimes and I’m in the band. It’s no doubt thorny, but we also believe in some sort of accessibility and your view of prog music is really correct because you can’t deny that Genesis and Yes and Rush have remained song-based music with a lot of hooks no matter how avant-garde the time signatures get.

MR: But I also use the word “prog” in the true sense of the word, short for “progressive,” as opposed to the old stereotype of prog.

EI: Well, I think the past is the future and the future is the past. We certainly try to be of the moment and I’m proud to say I think Made Possible sounds as fresh to me as anything out there right now.

MR: You have the song “Re-elect That” which, let’s do a sidebar here, seems relative to this election year. I wonder what you’re try to say here. Hmm…

EI: [laughs] We’re definitely for Obama, but honestly, I just thought it was a good title. It somehow came to me and it just seemed to be maybe a little humorous, but also talking about the fact that we’re twelve years into the band and we want to keep doing what we do and that song is something that the three of us do. We play some type of improvised jazz together in a special fashion, so let’s keep doing it. Also, yes, let’s re-elect Obama, of course. That seriously was not what I was thinking at the precise moment that I thought of that, though.

MR: And yet it works so well. And I have problems finding the “one” beat, though every once in a while, I think I’ve found it.

EI: [laughs] Well, it makes me think of a story. When we first, I won’t say, “hit it big,” but when we got our chance and we were signed to Columbia Records in 2003, there were a couple of years where we were fit into various sorts of larger venues or certain macro-events and one of them we played was the New Year’s Eve party at The Warfield in San Francisco. The Warfield, the hallowed rock room, and we were triple-billed with a famous jam band and a famous rock band. I just remember playing music and all these enthusiastic probably stoned dancers began moving to our music, which is, of course, a great honor, a great honor when anyone dances to your music, but at the same time, it quickly became clear that finding the “one” was going to be a perpetual issue. I ended up feeling kind of bad for the New Year’s Eve revelers as we played our prog music. It has some rhythmic element where you have to do some math, I’m sorry to say.

MR: Yes, but I want to add that it doesn’t matter. You keep the beat moving so succinctly that you end up not caring. That’s probably why they danced. And the music is cool.

EI: Oh, well, great! Fabulous.

MR: Oh, but that’s just me. No, wait, it’s not just me. I have a lot of friends who’ve become fans over the years because they can’t believe what they’re hearing when they play your records.

EI: Oh great, that’s wonderful to hear. Thank you, Mike.

MR: What is it that you can identify…what’s your theory…what’s going on with The Bad Plus that separates you from other progressive jazz groups like Medeski Martin & Wood? I feel like it’s because you’ve got the charm of a garage band playing über-jazz.

EI: Well, there’s the press quote of the year there, Mike, so thank you very much. There’s two things that come to mind and they’re sort of related. One thing, we are a real band, and most jazz groups tend to be a leader and sidemen, so Reid (Anderson) and Dave (King) and I are equally committed to the music and can allow in any influences that we believe is authentic to our music. That leads into the second point, which is that since everything is allowed, we’re able to draw on anything that we feel or hear is of the moment. Sometimes jazz groups can get worried about keeping the jazz ideal forefront or something in their music, and I love jazz very deeply, I think about jazz every day all day long, and I can understand how that mindset can happen. But at the same time, I also think in 2012, especially coming up in the Midwest, a lot of stuff is available to us and we don’t want to deny any tools. If someone says, “I don’t like jazz but I like The Bad Plus,” I think that means that they’re responding to some of the musical information that we allow in the band that is a bit more populist or something connected to the streets. It’s relevant to this moment.

MR: Speaking of the Midwest, you guys come from there, right?

EI: Yes, I’m from Menominee, Wisconsin.

MR: And the other guys, are they from Minnesota?

EI: Dave lives there and Reid and I live in Brooklyn.

MR: Ah. What?

EI: [laughs] I grew up in Wisconsin, and Reid and Dave both grew up in Golden Valley, a suburb of Minneapolis.

MR: Can you give us a quick history lesson on The Bad Plus?

EI: Well, the roots of the band go way back. Reid and Dave have been playing together since they were fourteen in that Golden Valley area. It was a fertile time, actually, because there was also a wonderful piano player and keyboard musician Craig Taborn who played with them at that time who’s gone on to be a major musician in contemporary jazz. I was down the road a peep, but we did actually, the three of us, meet and play an informal jam session in 1990, so that tells you the breadth of the history you’re dealing with when you talk about The Bad Plus.

MR: Have you guys look at your growth from album to album?

EI: Yeah, I hope each one is better than the previous, but at the same time, the frustrating thing for publicists and the way that the industry is, is that we just do what we do. The first time we played together at a little jazz club in 2001 to today, it’s the same basic idea, which is that these three energies just show up and we are who we are, and in the center of the three of us is this certain sound. That’s kind of it. I think there is a progression because we’re lucky enough to be out there on the road playing and learning to play our instruments better, or at least I am, I’ll say that, and I think probably more subtlety has crept in over the years and maybe we’ve become better composers. But the basic template is not changing, it just is what it is.

MR: How do new albums come together? When The Bad Plus is composing together, is there somebody who takes the lead as far as the writing? How does that work?

EI: That’s a great question. For us, the composer always writes the song on their own, so you see those different names credited to the songs. Reid and Dave both play piano very well. They can play their song on the piano and you’d recognize it as a piece in a second. There are final assignments that come in when the piece is brought into the band and we all put our own spin on it, and individualism is generally encouraged, but at the same time, we don’t jam it out or work it out too much. It’s sort of like a song is a song, ultimately.

MR: When you record, what’s the process? Is it a layering process or do you all play together in a room, capturing that moment?

EI: Yeah, we’ve never really done recording people separately. All our albums have been pretty much the live experience. This album is a slight departure in that we’ve added some beautiful electronica touches in post-production. They’re relatively subtle; I think they really enhance the record. It could have been put out without them and still be the record, but I think the electronics really add something. But the basic backing is the three of us playing in a room together.

MR: All of the songs on Made Possible are original except for “Victoria.”

EI: Right. We heard that Paul Motian was terminally ill when we were recording up there. We knew he was sick, but we were sort of hoping he would pull through and then we got word that it wasn’t going to reverse, that he was on his way out, and it was a really sad moment and we thought, “Let’s just play one of his tunes as sort of a tribute to him since we’re here tracking. He’s so important to us.” And it came out well so we put it on the record as a tribute to one of our favorite musicians. I’ll say that we all equally love Paul Motian and his music will live forever.

MR: I imagine the band loves that song.

EI: You know, I don’t know how many Paul Motian tunes we could play off hand. But Reid and I played with Paul a little bit and that was actually a tune at a gig that I did with Paul. Paul brought that in and he said, “Let’s play that tune.” So I learned it at that time and Reid and I then played it with Paul, so it was just something we knew. It’s also a dirge, it’s a sad song, but it’s a tune that even Paul Motian fans may not know this particular tune, so it seemed to work out that way as well.

MR: Your choice of cover songs is so unique, and your interpretations are always surprising. For instance, you recorded the Nirvana song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” and Vangelis’ “Chariots of Fire.”

EI: We like complex emotions, Mike. We want it to be wheels within wheels. For example, on “Chariots of Fire,” all three of us would gladly go on record saying it’s a masterpiece. That’s an incredible piece of music in the original version. Of course, there may be a certain cheese factor. We wouldn’t deny the cheese factor, but the truth of the matter is it’s my historical record that when I was in fifth and sixth grade, I would play that on the piano to make the girls notice me in my elementary school.

MR: [laughs] Did they notice you?

EI: Yes, of course. If you can play “Chariots of Fire” in sixth grade, you’re gold.

MR: [laughs] Best “Chariots of Fire” story ever.

EI: We’re not above loving “Chariots of Fire,” so of course our arrangement has elements that are deconstructing the piece. We wouldn’t play any piece of music without trying to make almost a political statement out of it, but some sort of relationship to the song comes first.

MR: What advice must you have for new artists?

EI: Oh, I don’t know. In terms of the jazz world, I do think that our idea of making sure you have a band has really worked for us. If their are jazz musicians looking at this, this is something rock musicians have understood for many years, but it’s been slow to come to jazz. I do think that it’s time to give up on “so-and-so’s saxophone-led quartet.” I think it’s time to find the music that’s in the middle of all the energies on the bandstand.

MR: And speaking of new talent, there is this guy over here, Galen Hawthorne, who is a budding interviewer and a journalist and he has a question for you.

Galen Hawthorne: Hi there.

EI: Hey man!

GH: You’ve covered all kinds of artists and bands and things like that, but if you could work or play with any of those artists, which one do you think would be your favorite experience. Or if you have worked or played with one, who was your favorite?

EI: Well, we haven’t really worked with any stars. We’ve gotten some nice feedback. Geezer Butler told us that he loved our version of “Iron Man.” In fact, he went on record in a music magazine saying he thought our cover of “Iron Man” was the best Black Sabbath cover ever.

GH: What an honor!

EI: So, when we saw that, we thought it was a great moment, but we do have sort of a canned answer for this, which is still valid. We love the avant-garde jazz master, truly profound, James Joyce-level master Ornette Coleman, and we’d love to work with him. But we also feel like to maybe cut the seriousness of the situation, we could have Cookie Monster from Sesame Street involved as well. Of course, we love Sesame Street. So the proposal, should anyone be willing to finance it because it would cost a lot of money, would be a quintet with Ornette Coleman and Cookie Monster.

GH: You could call it The Bad Cookie.

EI: According to the Cookie Monster, there are no bad cookies!

MR: So you’ll be touring for Made Possible, right?

EI: Yep.

MR: Where will that tour take you?

EI: We’re going everywhere. Over December and January we’ll be in Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, New York and St. Louis and it just proceeds from there.

MR: Nice. By the way, how in the world does The Bad Plus keep themselves, ahem, “In Stitches” for fourteen minutes and twelve seconds?

EI: Oh, well, you know, that’s easy, in a way. “In Stitches” is a long song, but from when I begin to when it’s over feels like the blink of an eye, and that’s the honest truth. It just goes.

MR: All right. Let’s talk more about another track, your choice.

EI: Let’s talk about the first tune, which is “Pound For Pound.” It’s Reid’s song and I think it’s a truly masterful ballad. It’s an immediate hit song as far as I’m concerned. It could definitely be picked up by Wes Anderson. Wes, if you’re listening to this, put it in one of your movies, please. It’s perfect for you. Reid put some very subtle electronics in that, but I remember when I went over there to listen and work with him a little bit on it, toward the end, there’s an arpeggio patch that goes a little bit crazy and Reid looked at me and said, “No one does this.” I had to agree. No one does this, “Pound For Pound.”

MR: You guys are having fun right now, huh.

EI: Yeah, it’s important to have fun. It’s important to believe in the music and have fun, absolutely.

MR: Ethan I really do appreciate your time. Definitely come back, and all the best.

EI: Great, man. Nice talking to you, Mike. It’s always great to hear it from a fan.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne