BADBADNOTGOOD

Canadian jazz band BadBadNotGood, formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2010, has built its reputation on electronic and rap-infused tunes. The trio of Chester Hansen (acoustic and electric bass, keyboards), Matthew A. Tavares (keyboards, guitar until 2019) and Alex Sowinski (percussion) made a name for themselves with their jazz covers of rap tracks on their first two albums BBNG (2011) and BBNG2 (2012), each followed by live recordings, BBNGLive 1 and BBNGLive 2. In 2014, the band emancipated itself with an original, instrumental third studio volume, succeeded by a collaboration with rapper Ghostface Killah on Sour Soul (2015), and its instrumental counterpart. As a fourth opus is being prepared, the arrival of Leland Whitty (reeds, violin, viola, guitar) fleshes out BadBadNot Good's sonic proposition. Released in 2016, album IV also sees the collaboration of vocalists Kaytranada, Sam Herring, Colin Stetson, Mick Jenkins and Charlotte Day Wilson. In the months following the release of the curated compilation Late Night Tales (2017), the band records with Little Dragon, MF Doom and participates in sessions for Mick Jenkins, Freddie Gibbs, Snoop Dogg, Thundercat, Jonah Yano and Brittany Howard. After the departure of Matthew A. Tavares, the trio released Talk Memory in 2021 (ranked No. 3 on the Billboard Jazz chart and No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz chart). With orchestral arrangements by Brazilian Arthur Verocai, it features contributions from Laraaji, Terrace Martin, Kariem Riggins and Brandee Younger. Moving from varied collaborations to unexpected studio exercises, the trio invites Charlotte Day Wilson ("Sleeper") and Tim Bernades ("Poeira Cosmica"), or serves up the soul pastiche "Take What's Given", before refining its most mellow and sophisticated jazz-funk on the three Mid Spiral EPs (2024), brought together on one album.