Masscult

In a famous 1960 essay, Macdonald identified three sorts of cultures: High Culture (think Cezanne and Eliot), which articulates an artist's idiosyncratic and often demanding vision; Masscult (Norman Rockwell and Erle Stanley Gardner), which tries “to please the crowd by any means,” and Midcult (Pearl Buck and Thornton Wilder), which disguises Masscult's reliance on formula with pretentious allusions.

★ THE BAD PLUS (Tomorrow) With its fifth studio album, “Prog” (Do the Math), this trio ventures further along a distinctive and adventurous path; the bassist Reid Anderson, the pianist Ethan Iverson and the drummer David King sound as committed as ever, and their alchemy of masscult allusions and highbrow inventions still has the power to overwhelm.