Contact CU Independent News Staff Writer Noelle Coultrip at Noelle.Coultrip@colorado.edu.
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
This week, the Boulder Theater welcomes jazz group The Bad Plus Joshua Redman. Originally a jazz trio comprised of Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson and David King, The Bad Plus performed the majority of their career as a three-part band.
In 2011, after performing at the Blue Note in New York City, the three-person dynamic of the band shifted to allow room for a fourth member: saxophonist Joshua Redman. On May 26, 2015, the coalescence of The Bad Plus and Redman released their first album as a jazz quartet, titled The Bad Plus Joshua Redman. The nine-track album displays the quartet’s match-made-in-heaven union, uniquely pairing jazz with elements of pop, blues and folk. The Bad Plus Joshua Redman’s soothing, soulful jazz utilizes the group’s dynamic to produce multi-faceted melodies. The Bad Plus Joshua Redman plays at the Boulder Theater on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m.
Lights, and The Mowgli’s
This week at the Ogden, electro-pop artist Lights and alternative rock band The Mowgli’s perform on their co-headlining tour. Singer Valerie Ann Poxleitner began performing as Lights in 2009, and has since slowly climbed the ladder of success in the music industry, mixing together various musical elements.
“February Air,” one of Lights’ more popular songs, features light, sweetly sung lyrics with an electronic twist. Another crowd favorite is “Toes,” a song that possesses a pop base and owns it, using electronic music to separate it from the rest of the industry’s run-of-the-mill pop songs. In 2014, Lights released her latest album, Little Machines, named after all of the various unique, unconventional sounds that shaped the album.
The Mowgli’s, an alternative rock band centered around positivity and the mentality that love can change the world, has an upbeat, edgy vibe that makes it almost impossible to sit still to their tunes. The band has performed with Walk the Moon and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, accumulating a loyal fan base along the way. Their sophomore album Kids in Love delves deeper into the concept of love, continuing the message of the first album with songs like “Whatever Forever,” and “Love Me Anyway.” Lights and The Mowgli’s perform at the Ogden on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.
Elephant Revival
Elephant Revival, a folk music group native to Colorado, is coming to the Ogden this week. This quintet consists of Bonnie Paine, Bridget Law, Charlie Rose, Dango Rose and Daniel Rodriguez. Intermingling dashes of gypsy and Americana, this band not only captivates their audience with multi-faceted performances, but puts forth a positive example to the rest of the world through their work with nonprofit organizations like Conscious Alliance and Calling All Crows. Elephant Revival performs at the Ogden on Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5 at 9 p.m.
