BadBadNotGood

Toronto-based jazz ensemble BadBadNotGood make expansive music that straddles the line between '70s soul-jazz, alternative hip-hop, and experimental electronica. The musicians gained attention in the early 2010s playing jazz covers of tracks by the likes of Odd Future and MF Doom. BBNG (2011) and BBNG2 (2012), their first two records, further developed that approach with reinterpretations of songs by A Tribe Called Quest and Kanye West as well as My Bloody Valentine and Feist. III (2014), their last fully instrumental LP for a decade, gave them their commercial breakthrough; it crowned Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and became the first of many BBNG projects nominated for Canada's Polaris Music Prize. The collaborative IV (2016) brought in guests ranging from Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring to saxophonist Colin Stetson and marked the band's Canadian chart debut. Talk Memory (2021), their third straight number one on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, explored fusion, new age, and orchestral influences with string arrangements from Arthur Verocai. Their Instrumental sixth album, Mid Spiral (2024), originally issued as three themed digital EPs, resulted from a week of recordings with several auxiliary players. In addition to their own albums, BadBadNotGood have shared bills with the likes of rap legend Ghostface Killah (Sour Soul), post-hardcore group Turnstile (New Heart Designs), and contemporary soul singer Baby Rose (Slow Burn). "Alien Love Call," off the Turnstile collaboration, earned BBNG their first Grammy nomination (in the category of Best Remixed Recording). Founded in 2010 by Matthew Tavares (keyboards and synthesizer), Chester Hansen (bass guitar), and Alexander Sowinski (drums), BadBadNotGood came together while the members were students at the Humber College jazz program in Toronto. Communing over their shared love of jazz and hip-hop, they composed a piece based upon the music of Odd Future -- a performance they uploaded online. It attracted many views and was spotted by Tyler, The Creator from Odd Future. In 2011, BadBadNotGood released their debut album, BBNG. It included covers of music by Odd Future, a Tribe Called Quest, and Waka Flocka Flame and was recorded in just one three-hour session. Following the album's release, the trio recorded a live session with Tyler, the Creator, opened for Roy Ayers at the Nujazz Festival in their hometown of Toronto, and performed at Gilles Peterson's worldwide awards. Their second record, BBNG2, was released in 2012, this time recorded within a ten-hour slot and once again featuring original pieces as well as cover versions of music by My Bloody Valentine, Kanye West, and James Blake. In the same year, BBNG was the Coachella Festival's band in residence, playing six different sets, as well as the backing band for Frank Ocean. BadBadNotGood were then drafted to be part of the production and musical composition team for the soundtrack of the film The Man with the Iron Fists. They did production work for Earl Sweatshirt and Danny Brown, as well as a remix on JJ Doom's Key to the Kuffs. The group's third record, III, was released in 2014 and included the singles "Hedron," "CS60," and "Can't Leave the Night." In February 2015, the group's collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan MC Ghostface Killah, titled Sour Soul, was released by Lex Records. In early 2016, the trio became a quartet when Leland Whitty joined on saxophone. BadBadNotGood's first album with Whitty, IV, appeared on Innovative Leisure the following July. The album featured guest appearances from Future Islands' Samuel T. Herring ("Time Moves Slow"), producer Kaytranada ("Lavender"), and rapper Mick Jenkins ("Hyssop of Love"). IV debuted on the Billboard 200 and topped the Jazz Album chart. The group's contribution to the Late Night Tales mix series appeared in 2017. The following year, they collaborated with Sweden's Little Dragon on the single "Tried." BadBadNotGood and Jonah Yano collaborated on a cover of the Majestics' "Key to Love (Is Understanding)" in 2019. Tavares announced his departure from the band that October, though he continued working with the band as a contributing songwriter. BBNG and MF Doom recorded a song called "The Chocolate Conquistadors" for the game Grand Theft Auto Online, and the track was released in December of 2020 -- several weeks after Doom's death, but before it was announced to the public. Talk Memory, the band's first album for XL, arrived in 2021, with guests including Arthur Verocai, Brandee Younger, and Laraaji. After releasing several remixes and collaborations with Yano and Lil Silva, BBNG reworked three songs by Turnstile on the 2023 EP New Heart Designs. The group then released "Sleeper," a single with previous collaborator Charlotte Day Wilson, and saw the New Heart Designs highlight "Alien Love Call" nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Remixed Recording. BBNG continued their collaborative, boundary-pushing ways in 2024. That April saw the release of Slow Burn, a haunting EP written and recorded with Baby Rose. Chester Hansen, Alexander Sowinski, and Leland Whitty were augmented on that six-song set by their touring keyboardist Felix Fox-Pappas, who was also among the additional players who participated in the fertile one-week session that yielded the sixth BBNG full-length. Mid Spiral, the all-instrumental contents of which were dispersed throughout May as the digital EPs Mid Spiral: Chaos, Mid Spiral: Order, and Mid Spiral: Growth, arrived in combined physical form that October. In addition to Fox-Pappas, the set also featured additional layers from the likes of percussionist Juan Carlos Medrano, guitarist Tyler Lott, trumpeter Kaelin Murphy. ~ Paul Simpson & Andy Kellman