On the 25th of July the Palau de la Música received the legendary jazzman McCoy Tyner sharing the stage with the young American double bass player and singer Esperanza Spalding in the first part of the concert.

With a repertory that included songs like “Stolen Moments” from Oliver Nelson, “Alfie”, from Sonny Rollins, “The Dancer” from Charles Mingus or “Africa”, from John Coltrane, amongst others, McCoy Tyner, together with his septet he had reproduced the revolutionary spirit and sound of the 60’s.

The special guest of the night was Esperanza Spaling that brought her own trio to present her debut album JUNJO. Enthusiastic and persistent, Spalding has showed us all her maturity and along with her musicians heated the audience, preparing them to a sublime second dish.

MONTUNO was in charge of the production of the concert of THE BAD PLUS in Barcelona last May 20th at the Jazz Room.

Since they got together in 2000, Ethan Iverson (piano), Reid Anderson (bass), David King (drums), members of The Bad Plus have dedicated their efforts to dismantling the preconceived image of the typical acoustic jazz trio. Their language is eclectic and very passionate and the fact that they are influenced by rock doesn’t just mean that it’s similar to Led Zeppelin but that their sound moves in different directions, constructing and de-constructing, distorting and reinventing all kinds of ideas.

According to them, they avoid the whole “piano out in front of two decent accompanists” thing, by exploiting the full sense of the band as three fully developed members able to take the lead from moment to moment. This is how they’ve been able to earn the interest of diverse audiences from indie-rock, techno, bebop… as well as praise from prestigious magazines like “Rolling Stone” and “Jazz Times”. Presenting their two latest CDs “Suspicious Activity” (recorded in the studio), and “Live in Tokyo”, recorded live, they’ll give mediocrity a real kick in the ass.

Lean more: The Bad Plus