By Colin malone | May 5, 2025
BadBadNotGood’s instrumental catalog can leave them a hard band to pin down. With roots in jazz, but branching out into aspects of hip hop, jazz, soul, just to name a few. Kicking off their “Hey we’re going on tour again!” tour with support from Baby Rose, in promotion of their new ‘Slow Burn’ EP, they commanded the stage with their genre hopping hits, along with some instrumental jam sessions and lively crowd participation.
Coming from Toronto, Canada in 2001, BadBadNotGood started off their career releasing two free jazz albums of mostly covers with a few original arrangements. Their popularity continued to rise to even the point where their fourth studio album was a full collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah in 2015’s “Sour Soul”. BadBadNotGood is formed by Alexander Sowinski on drums, Chester Hansen on bass, and Leland Whitty on saxophone and guitar, with touring support from Felix Fox on keyboards and Juancarlos Magallanes on percussion.
The band took the stage and went into a string of four songs, mostly from their latest album, and some old. This included some extended jams of some songs and a tremendous saxophone performance from Leland Whitty. Then saw the introduction of special guest Baby Rose to the stage to join BBNG. Baby Rose is a singer/songwriter from Washington DC, she joins them on this tour in support of their collaborative EP “Slow Burn”. The group performed the EP along with a soulful rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” The band concluded with a handful more songs spanning their catalog. BadBadNotGood is not a show you’ll want to miss. Each member is a master of their instruments, and while not having a standard lead singer, drummer Alex speaks to the crowd in between songs with a great banter and will even lead you in a deep breathing exercise before continuing to impress you with their raw musical talent.
Colin Malone is a freelance photographer for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of his work here
