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FIAF Fall Festival 2008 & other Bad Plus shows, residencies

By Andrew Frisicano

The Bad PlusAvant-jazz cross-over act the Bad Plus will play a series of NYC shows as part of its neverending schedule of gigs. First, the trio – Ethan Iverson on piano, Reid Anderson on bass, Dave King on drums – hosts a special performance as part of French Institute Alliance Française’s “Crossing the Line: FIAF Fall Festival 2008”

From the band’s blog, Do the Math, (updated by pianist Iverson):

“Once in a while TBP gets a commission to arrange a well-known piece of music. So far, we have done Bernstein, Sedaka, Radiohead, and turned down a couple of others. This Saturday [9/20], thanks to FIAF, we will be unveiling our transfiguration of “La Ballade de Melody Nelson” by the great hero of French pop music, Serge Gainsbourg. …[opening the show] Dave King will play duo with the fabulous Benoît Delbecq.”

The piano-playing Delbecq will play a solo set to begin the night.

The following Tuesday (9/23), the Bad Plus will kick-off six nights of 9pm- and 11pm-set club gigs at New York’s Village Vanguard. (Tix here.) The band, which recently left Columbia for indie label Heads Up, is most well-known for its free-form rock-song covers; their latest, Prog, features renditions of “Life on Mars,” “Tom Sawyer,” “This Guy’s in Love with You,” “Everybody Wants To Rule the World” and (as an iTunes-only bonus) Interpol’s “Narc.”

Pianist Iverson will perform and speak with jazz legend Lee Konitz on September 18 at Joe’s Pub. (Tix here.) Iverson and Konitz, whose many notable appearences include alto sax on Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool and an extended stint with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, will engage in a “free-form combination of music and conversation.” Among other things, the pair will discuss free-jazz progenitor Lennie Tristano, who Iverson recently wrote about at length on Do the Math.

All tour dates below…

The Bad Plus – “Physical Cities” album PROG

Bad Plus – 2008 Tour Dates
09-20 New York, NY — FIAF, Florence Gould Hall(w/Benoît Delbecq)
09-21 Portland, ME — One Longfellow Square
09-22 Gorham, ME — University Of Southern Maine
09-23 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
09-24 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
09-25 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
09-26 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
09-27 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
09-28 New York, NY — Village Vanguard
10-03 Buenos Aires, AR — Niceto Club
10-04 Rio de Janeiro, BR — Mistura Fina Club
10-05 Santos, BR — Mistura Fina Club
10-07 Sao Paulo, BR — Bourbon Street Music Club
10-19 Berlin, DE — Quasimodo Club
10-20 Zurich, CH — Moods
10-21 Milano, IT — Blue Note Milano
10-23 Toulouse, FR — Auditorium de Balma
10-24 Bratislava, SK — Park of Culture
10-25 Prerov, CZ — Mestsky dum Prerov
10-26 Prague, CZ — Lucerna Music Bar
10-27 Belgrade, SER — Dom Omladine Beograda
10-29 Vienna, AT — Porgy & Bess
10-30 Innsbruck, AT — Treibhaus Club
10-31 Kempen, DE — Campus
11-01 Lunen, DE — Hansesaal Lünen
11-03 Malmo, SE — Jazz i Malmö
11-04 Odense, DK — Jazzhus Dexter
11-05 Antwerp, BE — Arenberg Theatre Downstairs Club
11-07 Burgos, ES — Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos
11-08 Gijon, ES — Teatro Jovellanos
12-06 Moscow, RUS — Concert Hall MIR
12-07 Saint Petersburg, RUS — Music Hall Theater
01-07 Saint Louis, MO — Jazz At The Bistro
01-08 Saint Louis, MO — Jazz At The Bistro
01-09 Saint Louis, MO — Jazz At The Bistro
01-10 Saint Louis, MO — Jazz At The Bistro
02-07 Houston, TX — Lillie & Roy Cullen Theater
02-26 Istanbul, TUR — Is Sanat Istanbul Hall
03-05 Saratoga, CA — Carriage House Theatre
03-07 San Francisco, CA — Herbst Theatre
03-11 Vancouver, BC — Kay Meek Centre
03-12 Seattle, WA — Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
03-13 Seattle, WA — Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
03-14 Seattle, WA — Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
03-15 Seattle, WA — Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
04-18 Lakeville, MN — Lakeville City Arts Center