BADBADNOTGOOD

BADBADNOTGOOD are an instrumental trio from Toronto, Ontario, built on a foundation of post-bop and jazz vocabulary filtered through a deep affinity for hip hop. The group's lineup features Leland Whitty on saxophones and keys, Chester Hansen on bass, and Alexander Sowinski on drums; keyboardist Matthew Tavares was a founding member until his departure in 2019. Formed while its members were studying music, the band first attracted attention through inventive live reworkings of hip hop tracks, reinterpreting beat-driven material with the interplay and improvisation of a jazz ensemble.

That approach quickly connected them to hip hop artists directly rather than keeping them at arm's length as jazz outsiders. Their 2015 album Sour Soul, made in collaboration with Ghostface Killah, became a defining project, pairing raw production with Ghostface's verses in a way that felt organic rather than gimmicky. They have also worked with Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean, contributing to some of the more texturally adventurous corners of contemporary hip hop and R&B production.

Across their own albums, BADBADNOTGOOD balance tight compositional writing with loose, exploratory improvisation, moving between moody, cinematic pieces and grooving, rhythmically driven tracks. Songs such as «Time Moves Slow», «In Your Eyes», and «Lavender (Nightfall Remix)» reflect a group equally comfortable as a jazz band and as a production unit shaping the sound of other artists' records.