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Duke Arts Presents

Artists-in-Residence: The Bad Plus

Friday, October 17, 2014 | 7:00 pm


Artists-in-Residence Event: The Bad Plus
— Listening to Ornette Coleman with The Bad Plus —
The evening prior to their world premiere performance at Duke Performances, The Bad Plus — Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson, and Dave King — join Duke Performances executive director Aaron Greenwald for a listening session and conversation at The Pinhook in downtown Durham, exploring Ornette Coleman’s music and its impact on their work as a band.

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Duke Performances has once again engaged the forward-leaning jazz trio The Bad Plus — Reid Anderson, bass; Ethan Iverson, piano; and Dave King, drums — to make a daring evening-length project. In 2011, Duke Performances commissioned The Bad Plus’ On Sacred Ground, a bold new interpretation of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The intrepid trio — “about as badass as highbrow gets” (Rolling Stone) — now turns its sights to Ornette Coleman’s landmark 1972 recording Science Fiction following its 40th anniversary.

“Overflowing with brilliance” (AllMusic), Coleman’s Science Fiction is distinguished by its inventive combination of melodic beauty and avant-garde openness, enhanced by overdubs, vocals, and a sonic production unlike any other jazz recording in existence. The album has long been a touchstone for The Bad Plus: it is, for them, “the apotheosis of freedom and precision in improvised music.” At Baldwin Auditorium, they pay homage by boldly interpreting Science Fiction song-for-song, front-to-back, with help from an esteemed horn section of fine improvisers including Ron Miles, trumpet; Tim Berne, alto saxophone; and Sam Newsome, soprano saxophone.

Friday, October 17, 7 PM
The Pinhook, 117 W. Main St., Durham
Free & open to the public