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Are the Bad Plus a pop- and rock-influenced jazz trio? Or are they a power trio who like to play jazz? It's really a bit of both. But in the brave new world of postmodern jazz, identity crises are encouraged. Reid Anderson (bass) and David King (drums) grew up in Minnesota, while pianist Ethan Iverson spent his formative years in Wisconsin. Eventually, after crossing paths in such unlikely places as high school rock showcases and tentative free jazz performances inside upper-Midwestern diners, the three first performed as the Bad Plus in 1990; but they would spend the '90s embracing separate influences, each musician developing a unique musical language that would gestate into the Bad Plus' iconoclastic jazz template. Anderson released three albums on the Spanish indie Fresh Sound; Iverson was music director of New York City's prestigious Mark Morris Dance Group; and King worked with his Happy Apple combo, as well as 12 Rods. In August of 2001, the trio put aside their other projects ...