Reid Anderson

Reid Anderson composes, plays bass, and explores electronics as one of the originators of the Bad Plus, the jazz trio that has earned international recognition. His robust, resonant sound on the instrument and restrained manner of playing suit nearly every context, whether he functions inside a group, directs his own projects, or supports others. The Bad Plus has long followed an egalitarian model in which every participant writes material, a principle that continued after pianist Orrin Evans joined in place of Ethan Iverson in 2017. Anderson’s pieces stand out for their melodic character and direct, appealing grace. Between 1997 and 2000 he issued three albums as a leader on Spain’s Fresh Sound New Talent imprint: Dirty Show Tunes, Abolish Bad Architecture, and the widely praised The Vastness of Space. Additional recording and touring credits include work with saxophonists Mark Turner and Bill McHenry, vocalist Guillermo Klein, pianist Uri Caine, singer Donna Lewis, and drummer Jeff Ballard.

Born in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb, Anderson first encountered music through rock radio during adolescence. Drawn to the bass, he pursued prog-tinged hard rock and sharpened his skills in garage bands, where he first crossed paths with Dave King. Growing fascination with the instrument eventually directed him toward jazz, especially the compositions of Charles Mingus, the Ornette Coleman quartet featuring bassist Charlie Haden, and the John Coltrane Quartet with Jimmy Garrison; the last two inspired him to adopt the acoustic bass. Although classical performance was never his aim, he enrolled as a music major at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, which required participation in the orchestra. His bass instructor, a working orchestral musician, quickly recognized Anderson’s aptitude and urged him to audition for the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He succeeded, completed the classical curriculum, and graduated in three years. While at Curtis he frequented the Clef Club and sat in whenever possible. A telephone call from high-school student Orrin Evans, who needed a bassist for his sister’s birthday-party ensemble, led to an immediate friendship.

After leaving Curtis, Anderson relocated to New York and immersed himself in the jazz community, taking every opportunity to perform. He appeared on Till Brönner and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin’s German Songs in 1996 and made his Fresh Sound New Talent debut on the Ben Waltzer Trio’s For Good. Later that year he recorded his first leader date for the label; the Reid Anderson Quartet album Dirty Show Tunes, cut over two days in Brooklyn, featured Jorge Rossy, Mark Turner, and fellow Midwesterner Ethan Iverson. Anderson and Rossy subsequently joined Iverson on the pianist’s initial trio recordings for the same imprint. Also in 1997 Anderson participated in Patrick Zimmerli’s Twelve Sacred Dances for Arabesque alongside percussionist John Hollenbeck.

Abolish Bad Architecture, Anderson’s second leader project, emerged in 1999 as a quintet session that replaced Rossy with Jeff Ballard. That year he also supplied bass for Orrin Evans’ Criss Cross debut Listen to the Band, which included Nasheet Waits, Sam Newsome, Duane Eubanks, and Ralph Bowen. Additional sessions encompassed Bill McHenry’s Graphic, featuring Gerald Cleaver and Ben Monder, and tours with the avant-garde collective Orange Then Blue, sharing bass duties with Ben Street. At the start of the new millennium Anderson released the critically noted, piano-less quintet album The Vastness of Space with Monder, McHenry, drummer Marlon Browden, and alto saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo. The same period saw the Bad Plus coalesce after King moved to New York. Anderson also contributed to Uri Caine’s Goldberg Variations and other projects. In 2001 he recorded on Fred Hersch’s Songs Without Words and in the duo Veil of Names with Gerald Cleaver, while the Bad Plus issued its self-titled debut on Fresh Sound New Talent.

Over the following sixteen years Anderson, King, and Iverson toured extensively, establishing the group as jazz’s most distinctive piano trio. Between 2001 and 2016 they produced thirteen albums across multiple labels. Anderson still found room for sideman appearances with McHenry, Donna Lewis, Bill Carrothers, and others, yet the trio commanded the bulk of his schedule. The band served as artists-in-residence at Duke University in 2010 and 2011; on 24 March 2011 they premiered their trio arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at Reynolds Theater, later documenting the work in the studio for a 2014 release.

Anderson’s interest in rock persisted alongside his jazz work. He fronted the band the Sun, playing guitar and performing his own songs. He also cultivated a deep engagement with electronic music, composing The Rough Mixes, an improvised piece for live electronics and chamber orchestra that received its premiere with Jeff Ballard and live video as part of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series in 2013. In late 2016 the Bad Plus announced Iverson’s departure effective the end of 2017. Evans, a longtime friend whom Anderson and King had long hoped to feature, assumed the piano chair and appeared first on the 2018 album Never Stop II, which the trio supported with an international tour.

In 2019 Anderson and King joined saxophonists Tim Berne and Chris Speed to record the self-titled Broken Shadows album for the French limited-edition label Newvelle Records; the program presented compositions by Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, and Julius Hemphill, among others. Anderson also participated in Jeff Ballard’s Fairgrounds for the British Edition label alongside guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists Mark Turner and Chris Cheek, and pianists/keyboardists Pete Rende and Kevin Hays. That September Anderson, King, and Craig Taborn—acquaintances since high school in Minnesota—released the electro-acoustic album Golden Valley Is Now on Switzerland’s Intakt label, having first explored its material nine years earlier at King’s Walker Art Center festival in Minneapolis. Anderson and King shaped the pieces to emphasize collective song-like forms rather than vehicles for individual solos. The Bad Plus returned in October with Activate Infinity on Edition.