With The Bad Plus, a band returned to the Bimhuis that is enjoying great popularity there, and with The Bad Plus someone returned,  after Donnie McCaslin, who played on David Bowie's Blackstar: guitarist Ben Monden. 

Since the departure of Orrin Evans, the pianist who replaced Bad Plus member of the first hour, pianist Ethan Iverson, The Bad Plus no longer exists as a trio but as a quartet. With the piano exchanged for guitar and saxophone, this obviously has consequences for the sound. More than in trio formation, the rhythm section of bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King forms the foundation of The Bad Plus, where Chris Speed's saxophone and Ben Monden's guitar add a layer of bromide brass and atmospheric strings.

It was a Sunday night in November when I took a trip with Donny McCaslin. David Bowie’s saxophone player on Blackstar: the last album of the Thin White Duke that was both a comeback and a requiem. 

It was on a Friday evening and I saw my plans - to let the week softly crash with Netflix on the couch - in a pleasant way crossed by fellow JAS-member Jurgen van Loenhout who invited me to attend a performance of Thomas de Pourquery & band. 

​No electronic devices will win a music battle from musicians of flesh and blood who take their music to the max. So much is clear after the concert from The Bad Plus in which the band played music from Ornette Coleman’s album Science Fiction. For this occasion the band was extended with a three-piece brass section and a laptop that double bass player Reid Anderson used to release some soundscapes and beats. Good for us that happened only occasionally because it wasn’t much more than “playing around” in the two fabulous sets the sextet played in the Bimhuis.