Odd Future, Move Over: Flying Lotus Gets Jazz Treatment By Canadian Trio
Who says jazz is dead? Nobody, if Canadian trio BADBADNOTGOOD has anything to do with it. 
Alex Sowinski on drums, in a pig mask
Back in April, we happened upon the group's eight-minute re-imagining of two songs from Tyler, the Creator's Bastard and (our personal favorite) Gucci Mane's "Lemonade." Sometimes the cream, not the terrible videos we immediately swipe our internet history of, really does rise to the top: "The Odd Future Sessions Pt. 1" now has over 150,000 views on YouTube.
In late June, the trio released a three-song medley of Tyler's solo debut, Goblin. Yesterday, they Tweeted a link to their version of our very own extraordinaire experimental producer Flying Lotus' song "Camel."
We're down with any jazz group whose drummer uses a 40-ounce as an instrument and whose videos include a random dude grooving in a lion costume while being watched by a glowing jack-o-lantern. Oh, and did we mention they're really, really good?
BADBADNOTGOOD, also known as "The Odd Trio," is pianist Matt Tavares, bassist Chester Stone Hansen and Alex Sowinski, usually wearing a pig mask, on the drums. The guys, all 19 or 20 years old, met at Humber College in Toronto, and bonded over their mutual musical interests--Odd Future, Gucci Mane, and Waka Flocka Flame (our heads almost exploded when we pondered a jazzy reworking of "Hard in Da Paint").
Of course, there's no sheet music for Odd Future, and forget Gucci Mane, so they just picked out the songs by ear. With "Camel," Tavares says, "I liked that beat. We had a free eight-hour studio session with our friend, and we just kinda jammed on it. The biggest thing with jazz music is when most of those old guys--say, Charlie Parker--played something, they just had an idea of what a song's melody and chord changes would be, and what they played otherwise just kinda happened."
In other words, no extensive process, just extensive talent.
For comparison:
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