WICN Artist of the Month, June 2026: The Bad Plus

The acoustic jazz trio The Bad Plus, the WICN Artist of the Month for June 2026, burst on the music scene at the beginning of the new millennium, releasing their first album in the year 2001 and creating a bit of a stir because, well, they did things a little bit differently.

They began as a group with the typical jazz trio instrumentation – all acoustic instruments: piano, double bass, and drum set—and a penchant to record pop and rock songs. But unlike other jazz trios tapping into the vast pop-rock canon, they approached pop songs seriously, not as novelty material or material simply played in jazz meter.  And they didn’t electrify their instruments—no electric bass or piano in their early iterations.

Instead, The Bad Plus took a different sort of page from the school of rock by channeling the same ethos that is the hallmark of indie rock and punk.

The Bad Plus—originally Ethan Iverson on acoustic piano, Reid Anderson on acoustic bass, and Dave King on drums—played with the volume, aggression, and energy often found in punk and indie rockers. And, with this approach that is so alien to so many acoustic jazz trios, The Bad Plus captured their share of young rock audiences looking for something a little bit new, as well as capturing more traditional jazz fans.

The group, although its members had played together previously, officially formed The Bad Plus in 2000 and released their first, self-titled album in 2001. They attracted major-label attention and signed with Columbia Records in 2002. A year later, they released These Are the Vistas, followed by Give in 2004 and Suspicious Activity? in 2005.

In addition to hearing their music on the air throughout June, WICN listeners in the station’s broadcast area can hear The Bad Plus on their Farewell Tour— they’ve announced they are disbanding at the end of 2026—at the Groton Hill Music Center in Groton on June 18. (Other New England cities on The Bad Plus Farewell Tour include Portland, Maine, June 15; Old Saybrook, Conn., June 16; and Northampton, Mass., June 17.)

Morphing Over Time

Never a group to stand still, The Bad Plus have changed over the years.

In 2007, the group released the album Prog, which included covers of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears and “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie. Their next studio album, For All I Care, featured Wendy Lewis on vocals and marked a change in their musical style as it was the first album to include a vocalist, as well as the first to feature no original music. The inspiration behind For All I Care was the 1963 album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Their 2010 album Never Stop was their first to feature only original compositions. A follow-up original album, Never Stop II, was released in 2018.

The trio was the artist in residence at Duke University in 2010 and 2011. Duke Performances commissioned The Bad Plus to develop a new interpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” which they premiered at Duke’s Reynolds Theater on March 24, 2011. In 2014, The Bad Plus released this version in a studio album also titled The Rite of Spring.

They released Made Possible in 2012, which featured electronic instruments for the first time; Inevitable Western in 2014; The Bad Plus Joshua Redman with saxophonist Joshua Redman in 2015; and It’s Hard, a cover-only album in 2016.

On April 10, 2017, they released a statement that Ethan Iverson would part ways with the band at the end of the year and that Orrin Evans would be replacing him on piano. With Evans, The Bad Plus released two studio albums. Four years later, on March 13, 2021, the band posted news on social media that Orrin Evans would be leaving the band to “pursue the music under his own name and will be closing his chapter with The Bad Plus.”

At that point, the band made the decision to transition away from being a piano trio, expanding their ensemble to a quartet. In August 2021, they revealed their new lineup featuring guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed. They released two new albums, one simply entitled The Bad Plus in 2022 and Complex Emotions in 2024.

On January 12, 2026, Anderson and King posted a Facebook reel announcing that The Bad Plus would disband by the end of the year.