Twin Cities-launched jazz group the Bad Plus is disbanding

After a quarter of a century as an acclaimed and iconoclastic modern-jazz group, the Twin Cities-launched the Bad Plus is wrapping it up this year.

The group announced its intention on social media this week.

In a playful Instagram video shot in snowy weather on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, drummer Dave King and bassist Reid Anderson, the combo’s co-founders, said this year will be the last for the Bad Plus.

“Our [musical] statement is out there,” King said.

“We said what we set out to say,” added Anderson, “and we’re very proud of what we’ve done.”

Then they got less serious, declaring they will play “anywhere anyone wants us.”

Anderson joked that they plan to fulfill a longtime dream to “start an alpaca farm in northern Minnesota.”

“We’re both sort of frustrated with the industry, which is not getting any easier,” King said. “We felt we’ve a personal mark on the music we set out to do, challenging those preconceived notions of a leader versus a band and the fact that the rhythm section is contributing most of the original music.”

After their soul-searching discussion, King and Anderson concluded, “Let’s look at a way to close it down in a totally beautiful and amicable way,” the drummer said.

The Bad Plus may have been the hardest-touring band in jazz circles, averaging 160 performances annually around the world. Since the pandemic, they have cut back to about 130 gigs.

“Twenty-five years of international traveling does take a toll on your health,” King said. “Playing your music all over the world is a dream.

“At some point, you have to find a way to slow it down,” he added. “It’s hard because it’s a competitive scene and it’s a challenge to keep the momentum.”

King said the quartet will hit the road again in May, with a First Avenue concert in the works, and then travel to Europe in July, with Australia and Japan on the horizon.

The Bad Plus will end it with five nights at the Dakota in December, a tradition that started 27 years ago.

The ad promoted “Happy Apple’s Dave King with his New York buddies,” he recalled. “Tickets were $8.”

The Bad Plus started in 2000 with the Golden Valley-reared Anderson and King, who have known each other since junior high, and pianist Ethan Iverson from Menomonie, Wis.

The trio gained a reputation with instrumental interpretations of rock hits by Nirvana, Blondie and Radiohead, plus creative originals. The group released 19 albums, including several on the prestigious Columbia and Mack Avenue labels, and played in jazz clubs and at festivals around the world.

In 2021, Evans exited, and guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Chris Speed joined, contributing to the Bad Plus’ final two studio albums.

Among their plans for this year, Anderson and King will team with celebrated Golden Valley-reared, New York-based jazz pianist Craig Taborn and his longtime cohort Chris Potter in a tribute to Keith Jarrett. They have booked 27 concerts in the United States and Europe, starting March 3 in Lexington, Ky.

The ever-busy King drums in other Twin Cities ensembles including Happy Apple and Halloween, Alaska, a semi-dormant indie-rock group that will play its farewell shows on Jan. 23 at the Dakota in Minneapolis.

The drummer will release a record this year with his new trio, Dave King’s Bridge Material. He said Anderson will likely have a record of his own electronic music. And a live Bad Plus album from the final Dakota run is being considered.