In October, we featured guitarist Ben Monder and highlighted his work as a leader with his most recent album, Planetarium. Also a member of The Bad Plus, his deft playing was evident on the group’s November release, Complex Emotions.

Formed in Minneapolis in 2000, the group was founded by the rhythm team of bassist Reid Anderson on bass and drummer David King, with Ethan Iverson on piano. The trio recorded its eponymous debut after only a few performances, released on Fresh Sound. A gig at the venerable Village Vanguard got the attention of Columbia Records, for which they recorded three albums. For the next decade, they would switch labels and release several more recordings with this lineup until it was announced that Iverson was leaving the group.

Monder and and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed helped relaunch the band as a quartet, and release another record entitled The Bad Plus. The group’s avant-garde approach and reimaginings of songs by rock artist like Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Rush, Neil Young, David Bowie, and others has kept things interesting. Complex Emotions was another triumph, with JazzWise proclaiming the quartet as one of the, “hippest, baddest instrumental bands operating on the planet today.” All About Jazz noted, “Complex Emotions certainly comes at you from every angle. But it is a stunning whole.”

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