The Bad Plus

This group is one of my favorite discoveries. The wondrous things you will stumble upon by listening to free internet radio through I-tunes! I was listening to some jazz station and these guys popped on and stood out. I immediately noticed because their drummer is my dream come true for the jazz world. Now granted, I don't know a whole lot about Jazz trios (the piano drums and bass), but most drummers in this set up have a very similar style according to my ears. He played the perfect combination of jazz drummer and rock-n-roll drummer. I can't stand it when the drummer is all over the place all the time. Which seems to be the case with a lot of Jazz trios I've sampled on the radio. Dave King goes with the flow of the rest of the band more often, instead of being so disjointed.

Now, this isn't easy listening though either. They call themselves progressive so it does get a bit wild sometimes. They have a habit of falling into chaos and then bringing themselves back out very stylishly. But its the way they bring themselves back out that is so damn cool and makes so much sense. Take a listen to "Life on Mars" if you want to hear something quite new and in my opinion on the edge. They have faced criticism for their claim to the jazz genre, but I'm with the man who said any genre that wants to stay alive should progress.

I've seen these guys several times live as they are out of my hometown (Minneapolis)
They are amazing live and great on record as well.

You're right about Dave King also, he has the heard of a punk rocker, but the skill of a jazz drummer. If you're interested in something fairly indicative of their sound check out the "Blunt Object: Live in Tokoyo" release...it's pretty cool cause you get a feel for their live show also.

Great band. One of my favorites...also check out Happy Apple (another Minneapolis Jazz Trio featuring Dave King)

I'm not the biggest jazz buff, but I do own an album by these guys. It's quite good.

They do a jazz cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit- funny stuff.

I just checked these guys out and their cover of Flim is pretty awesome. I don't think I've ever heard an Aphex song covered before.