The Bad Plus: Between prog & a jazz place

Their name alone, the

Bad Plus

, suggests a group that's looking for trouble. And brother, do they get it. This is a splashy, imaginative piano, bass and drums trio that stirs up controversy.

While rooted in jazz, they face rejection from some purists for ignoring the traditional repertoire. Yet at the same time they've managed to touch a nerve among rock- and pop-lovin' audiences who don't know Monk from Miles from Mingus.

In some ways a throwback to the 1960s, when the swinging, piano-centered Ramsey Lewis Trio garnered across-the-board hits with covers of "The In Crowd" and "Hang on Sloopy," the Bad Plus also embrace and reconstruct songs from the world of rock and pop, yours to relish on their latest (fourth) album, appropriately titled "Prog," and this weekend in performances at Chris' Jazz Cafe.

But you'll find they take the music much farther out than Lewis ever did, spinning imaginative reveries from David Bowie's "Life on Mars" and Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." And they kick butt with persuasively percussive, free-wheeling treatments of crankers like Rush's prog-rock killer, "Tom Sawyer."

Once they've gotten your attention, these guys prove their own compositional chops with originals that dance all over the map, from bassist Reid Anderson's tip of the hat to Rush and Led Zeppelin on "Physical Cities" to pianist Ethan Iverson's classically flavored "Mint," to drummer David King's Latin-percussion-based "Thriftstore Jewelry" and rompin', stompin', all colors under the sun "1980s World Champion."

Rooted in the Midwest, these late-30-ish guys have known each other since their teens, but only got the Bad Plus going after spending time apart.

King worked as a session player in Los Angeles, Iverson as musical director for the prestigious Mark Morris Dance Group. Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in music performance here at the Curtis Institute of Music before sharpening his chops as a player in the New York jazz scene.

I got bassist Anderson on the line the other day to discuss the Bad Plus' place in the grand scheme of things.

Q: With the wide availability of music on the Internet, people are getting to hear lots more stuff than they used to and becoming more eclectic in their tastes. Doesn't that play to your strengths as a group?

A: Everyone I know listens to all kinds of music. That's a very normal thing in the 21st century. I think the Internet has a lot to do with it. Scanning the radio is often such a fruitless effort. It's so formatted. People are getting tired of being hammered over the head with the same music. Once the door is cracked open, there's so much to discover and it's so easy to discover.

Q: What kind of music did you listen to as a kid?

A: My first exposure, growing up in the 1970s and '80s, was to rock radio. I was sort of turned on to progressive rock, to music that pushed the boundaries. Dave and I grew up together in a suburb of Minneapolis and had similar development. By the end of high school we were seriously into jazz - John Coltrane, Miles Davis, the more traditional giants of jazz. Then we also got into out-there guys like Ornette Coleman and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. We were following this path, but nobody was guiding us. . . . My earliest performing days were in a garage band, doing the typical high-school thing. That progressed pretty quickly into experimental, free jazz.

Q: So how did you ever wind up at Curtis?

A: My freshman year was spent at the University of Wisconsin. I had no idea of classical music, hadn't played much or long, but I was talented at it. My teacher said, "I think you can get into Curtis if you want to transfer." I had a strong desire to be on the East Coast and committed myself to learning the classical repertoire. Curtis is a very special place. It's fascinating to be in that exclusive environment, surrounded by people who are truly world class in terms of classical music. . . . But for me it was a little troubling. I felt I got myself on a path I couldn't get off of. I knew I wanted to be a creative musician. Classical bass playing isn't part of that.

Q: So did you skip out of school at nights to explore the Philly jazz scene?

A: For sure. I played with Jimmy Bruno at Chris' quite a bit. I went down to Ortliebs' and played with Bootsie Barnes, and with a lot of the younger players. I was the house bassist for the weekly jam sessions there. It was a great experience. Philadelphia has this geniune core to it of real jazz and swing and soul.

Q: And post-graduation, have you sensed rejection from your teachers and peers at Curtis, for giving up on their world? Do they lay a guilt trip on you?

A: Not at all. I see friends of mine who now have important positions in the classical world. They all think it's cool what I'm doing. I got a lot of valuable things from Curtis. . . . I did pay attention. And I'm applying a lot of that to the music I'm making now. *

Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., 8 and 10 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, $25, 215-568-3131, www.crisjazzcafe.com.