Concert Preview: Jason Moran and The Bad Plus

Anderson also believes that his group is part of a broader movement in jazz, of which Moran is a part. "The inevitable is happening," he said. "Younger musicians are acknowledging their own life experience and [bringing] that as well."

As for what to expect on Sunday, the group's albums are representative of the band's live sound because the songs are not only recorded after having been performed extensively, but also because the band takes a fairly straightforward approach to recording.

"It's essentially us playing live in a room," Anderson explained. "We don’t do anything we couldn’t replicate live."

While The Bad Plus' performance is certainly something to anticipate, the concert's other participant proves equally promising. Commissioned by several sources, including WPAS, Moran & Co. will perform In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959. Assembled in celebration of the 90th anniversary of Thelonious Monk's birth, the presentation is a multi-media performance that combines Monk's music with imagery and sound clips that show the story behind the music.

"It’s a celebration of one of the great American geniuses," said Moran of the piece's inspiration. "He’s changed many musicians, artists, and how the United States is perceived around the world and shows we never really know the power of what music can do."

Explaining the concept behind the piece, Moran said, "We’ve tried to put the music in context and in [an] historical framework. This context gets detached so people end up looking at the music rather than looking at the human being."

Moran and his band will present the music along with other elements, including conversations, film and archived photography, assembled by visual artist David Dempewolf. The accompanying media will tie together Monk's compositions with his ancestry and the Civil Rights struggle of the time. For example, the performance will contain Monk's own descriptions of the music from the Town Hall rehearsals as well as footage of the plantation on which his grandparents were slaves.

Moran's desire to "dig deeper" comes out of his feeling that art is more powerful when placed in context. "Dramatic arts have an influence on how I produce a concert," he said. "The audience shouldn’t feel like it’s getting a lecture, but I’ve taken to wanting to have ownership of how songs are created."

Jason Moran and The Bad Plus will be performing this Sunday, October 28, at The George Washington University Lisner Auditorium, located at 730 21st Street, NW. Tickets to the 7 p.m. show are available here. $25-$45 with a limited number of student tickets available at the door.