Subscribe to The CheckoutNews FeedSubscribe to The CheckoutComments

Browse > Home > Shows > The Bad Plus: On Sacred Ground

The Bad Plus: On Sacred Ground

April 26, 2011 by Josh Jackson  
Filed under Shows

13 Comments

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This week, The Checkout dedicates the hour to the recent world premiere by The Bad Plus of “On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring” at Duke Performances. The genre-bending trio features bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer Dave King. Although ostensibly a jazz trio, the group is well-known for their expansive musical palate — incorporating music from Blondie to Babbitt as its points of departure.

For this project, the group arranged Stravinsky’s famously controversial piece, a cornerstone of 20th-century classical repertoire. But rather than take bits and pieces for improvised riffs, the group consciously chose to play the score, arranging the work for piano, bass and drums. The result is a fascinating take that is clearly The Rite, yet also identifiably The Bad Plus.

WBGO’s Josh Jackson interviews Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson, Dave King and music critic Steve Smith. Listen above to the whole show, or click below to hear the piece in its entirety:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


Photos by: Darryl Pitt

Recorded March 26, 2011 at Reynolds Theater in Durham, NC.
Ethan Iverson – piano
Reid Anderson – bass
Dave King – drums

Recorded by Luc Suer and Bradford Swanson
Mix by Bradford Swanson
Duke Performances Director: Aaron Greenwald
Thanks to Darryl Pitt and Thurston Briscoe

Tags:

Comments

13 Responses to “The Bad Plus: On Sacred Ground”
  1. Yael says:
    April 27, 2011 at 4:39 am

    Absolutely breathtaking. The Bad Plus just took the whole universe and made it better.

  2. George Weinberg-Harter says:
    April 28, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    Astonishing! I’ve been listening to Sacre for well over half a century, and they made it all new again for me!

  3. Josh Lawrence says:
    April 29, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    Man… great concert! What an original concept for a classic piece. Thank you for sharing this!

  4. Richard Mitnick says:
    April 29, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    Thanks for looking at MusicSprings.

  5. Bruce Hodges says:
    April 29, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    This is fantastic. One of the best classical-to-jazz interpretations I’ve ever heard.

  6. David Vickerman says:
    April 29, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    This is incredible! Any chance it will be available for download ever?

  7. Dylan Howe says:
    April 30, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Hi – this is very interesting, I wonder if you or the Bad Plus might have heard about this?

    Dylan Howe / Will Butterworth Duo: Stravinsky

    Recorded 2010
    Motorik Recordings

    Links:

    http://www.myspace.com/stravinskyduo
    http://www.dylanhowe.com/dh-will-butterworth-duo-stravinsky-.html
    http://open.spotify.com/track/4agroeg0nvfNeVFELQodU5
    http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-rite-of-spring-part-1/id355482535

    Best wishes
    Dylan

Trackbacks

Check out what others are saying about this post...
  1. You can stream the premiere live at 6:30, and it will be archived on the site tomorrow morning. says:
    April 27, 2011 at 9:38 am

    [...] [...]

  2. It Happened That Way « Cheap Talk says:
    April 27, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    [...] [...]

  3. On Sacred Ground | The Mouth of the Beast says:
    April 28, 2011 at 3:32 am

    [...] chronology of the last section of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor,* but I wanted to link to a release of the premiere performance of On Sacred Ground, The Bad Plus’ reworking of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Pianist [...]

  4. WBGO Blog: Post view says:
    April 28, 2011 at 6:17 am

    [...] The Checkout this week features the entire Rite of Spring by Stravisnky, as arranged and performed by The Bad Plus last month at Duke Performances. According to twitter user ericread, it’s “possibly the [...]

  5. From A Blog Supreme and WBGO: “First Rites: Jazz Goes Stravinsky” « MusicSprings says:
    April 29, 2011 at 10:56 am

    [...] “In late March, The Bad Plus descended upon Duke University to unveil its take on Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. You can now hear a recording of On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at The Checkout. [...]

  6. Best Live Performance of 2011: “RITE ON” « IT'S ALL CLASSICAL says:
    December 31, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    [...] When the group first started tackling this assignment it started to become clear that not only could they perform the entire piece as an arrangement from the score but they could maintain its dynamic nature while infusing it with their own characteristic style of playing. You can checkout the live recording of the world premier here. [...]



Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!