Introducing Brad Mehldau (1995)
Pianist Brad Mehldau's debut as a leader features his straight-ahead style in trios with either Larry Grenadier or Christian McBride on bass and Jorge Rossy or Brian Blade on drums. The well-rounded set is highlighted by tasteful and swinging versions of five standards (including John Coltrane's "Countdown," "It Might As Well Be Spring," and "From This Moment On") and four of the pianist's originals. This CD (which is sometimes available at a budget price) serves as a fine start to what should be a productive career.
Scott YanowTracklist :
1 It Might As Well Be Spring 7:46
Written-By – Hammerstein/Rodgers
2 Countdown 4:12
Written-By – Coltrane
3 My Romance 6:23
Written-By – Rodgers/Hart
4 Angst 6:11
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
5 Young Werther 7:11
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
6 Prelude To A Kiss 10:00
Written-By – Ellington
7 London Blues 7:00
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
8 From This Moment On 6:33
Written-By – Porter
9 Say Goodbye 9:25
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
Credits:
Bass – Christian McBride (tracks: 6 to 9), Larry Grenadier (tracks: 1 to 5)
Drums – Brian Blade (tracks: 6 to 9), Jorge Rossy (tracks: 1 to 5)
Piano – Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau - The Art of the Trio, Vol.1 (1997)
At this point in time, pianist Brad Mehldau's style falls between Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, being heavily influenced by the voicings of the latter and the free yet lyrical improvising of the former. With fine backup work by bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, Mehldau explores five standards (including the Beatles' "Blackbird" and "Nobody Else but Me") and four originals, coming up with melodic yet adventurous ideas. Mehldau displays much potential for the future.
Scott Yanow1 Blame It On My Youth 6:17
Written-By – Heyman, Levant
2 I Didn’t Know What Time It Was 6:30
Written-By – Rodgers/Hart
3 Ron’s Place 6:29
Brad Mehldau
4 Blackbird 5:00
Written-By – Lennon/McCartney
5 Lament For Linus 4:38
6 Mignon’s Song 6:34
7 I Fall In Love Too Easily 7:16
Written-By – Styne/Cahn
8 Lucid 5:43
9 Nobody Else But Me 7:36
Written-By – Hammerstein/Kern
Credits:
Bass – Larry Grenadier
Drums – Jorge Rossy
Piano – Brad Mehldau
Written-By – Brad Mehldau (tracks: 3, 5, 6, 8)
Brad Mehldau - The Art of the Trio, Vol.2
(Live at the Village Vanguard) 1998
It takes a certain nerve for a young jazz artist to subtitle an album Live at the Village Vanguard. The title evokes some mighty powerful spirits from the jazz pantheon. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins. Bill Evans. Joe Henderson. But pianist Brad Mehldau is more than up to this daunting challenge. On this set of standards by the likes of Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk and Henry Mancini, Mehldau exhibits a musical erudition and a technical prowess that belies his youth. Though the obvious comparisons are with Evans and Keith Jarrett, Mehldau has a highly individual style that draws heavily on his classical training. Along with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, he has made a stunning album of exploratory jazz that holds its own with the great "Live at the Village Vanguard" recordings of the past.
Joel RobertsTracklist :
1 It’s Alright With Me 12:39
Written-By – Cole Porter
2 Young And Foolish 13:07
Written-By – Albert Hague, Arnold Horwitt
3 Monk’s Dream 11:09
Written-By – Thelonious Monk
4 The Way You Look Tonight 12:33
Written-By – Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
5 Moon River 10:52
Written-By – Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer
6 Countdown 12:40
Written-By – John Coltrane
Bass – Larry Grenadier
Drums – Jorge Rossy
Piano – Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau - The Art of the Trio, Vol.3 (Songs) 1998
The lyrical pianist Brad Mehldau applies his melancholy, Bill Evans/Keith Jarrett-derived approach to a set of five originals plus standards including "Young at Heart," "For All We Know," and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," as well as covers of Nick Drake's "River Man" and Radiohead's "Exit Music (For a Film)." The always swinging and tasteful pianist is accompanied by a rhythm section of drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Larry Grenadier, and overall this is a fine program easily recommended to straight-ahead collectors.
Steve Huey1 Song-Song 6:29
Brad Mehldau
2 Unrequited 6:07
Brad Mehldau
3 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered 5:57
Written-By – Rodgers/Hart
4 Exit Music (For A Film) 4:23
Written-By – Radiohead
5 At A Loss 6:19
Brad Mehldau
6 Convalescent 5:58
Brad Mehldau
7 For All We Know 7:59
Written-By – Coots, Lewis
8 River Man 4:47
Written-By – Drake
9 Young At Heart 6:20
Written-By – Leigh, Richards
10 Sehnsucht 4:56
Bass – Larry Grenadier
Drums – Jorge Rossy
Piano – Brad Mehldau
Written-By – Brad Mehldau (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 10)
Brad Mehldau - The Art of the Trio, Vol.4
(Back At The Vanguard) 1999
Appearing just three months after Brad Mehldau's elegant solo piano album Elegiac Cycle, Art of the Trio, Vol. 4: Back to the Vanguard provides a remarkable contrast to the refined, cerebral, hypnotic affair that was released before it. Not that the performances on Back to the Vanguard aren't hypnotic, since they're utterly captivating. The difference is that this live recording captures exactly how vital and impassioned Mehldau's playing is. Working with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, he turns these songs -- including three originals, one Miles Davis number, two standards, and Radiohead's "Exit Music" -- inside out, finding the heart of the song, and exploring a bewildering array of variations of the themes and chords. This music surges forward, unhinged and forceful, complex but completely accessible. Mehldau spends much of his liner notes on the defensive, explaining how many jazz critics have misread his music. He has a point -- he has often been ghettoized as a jazz intellectual, but as this exceptional album proves, there is considerable emotion and feeling and plain excitement behind his music, even during the mesmerizing quiet sections.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine 1 All The Things You Are 13:30
Written-By – Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II
2 Sehnsucht 10:48
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
3 Nice Pass 17:35
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
4 Solar 9:51
Written-By – Miles Davis
5 London Blues 7:37
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
6 I'll Be Seeing You 7:18
Written-By – Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain
7 Exit Music (For A Film) 8:14
Written-By – Radiohead
Credits:
Bass – Larry Grenadier
Drums – Jorge Rossy
Piano – Brad Mehldau
The Brad Mehldau Trio - The Art of the Trio, Vol.5
(Progression) 2001 (2CD)
Virtuoso pianist Brad Mehldau continues his Art of the Trio series with a two-CD set titled Art of the Trio, Vol. 5: Progression. Recorded live at the Village Vanguard in New York City, this volume is his most satisfying triad outing yet. The trio opens disc one with a swinging up-tempo rendition of "The More I See You" and, for over ten minutes, Mehldau improvises his swinging instincts with his well-organized rhythmic partners, drummer Jorge Rossy and acoustic bassist Larry Grenadier. His original "Dream's Monk" features an extended variation on his profoundly introspective bebop. This composition is the centerpiece of disc one, which otherwise features covers of such standards as "Alone Together," "It Might as Well Be Spring," and "The Folks Who Live on the Hill." Disc two is evenly programmed with three originals by Brad Mehldau and three by Great American Songbook composers George & Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Sammy Fain, and Paul Francis Webster. On the nearly 15-minute rendition of the Gershwin/Kern composition "Long Ago and Far Away," Mehldau's rhythm section plays fervent bop lines over his brilliant piano arpeggios after a virtuosic introduction. Grenadier's bass solo remains one of the most memorable on this recording, with Mehldau delicately comping it with light piano chord voicings. Rossy deftly adjusts and readjusts his brushwork to provide just the right textures and musical accompaniment. Whereas The Art of the Trio, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, and Vol. 4 provided Mehldau's listeners with rich documentation of his piano mastery that often includes altered root motion and meter on standard tunes, blazing swing tempos, and poetic piano lines that can hover intensely in a ballad, his intrinsic musical signature is more substantial on Progression due to several stunning piano solos, ethereal vamps, and successive thematic transformations.
Paula Edelstein 1 The More I See You 10:05
Written-By – Harry Warren, Mack Gordon
2 Dream's Monk 11:21
Written-By – Thelonious Monk
3 The Folks Who Live On The Hill 9:50
Written-By – Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern
4 Alone Together 15:01
Written-By – Howard Dietz / Arthur Schwartz
5 It Might As Well Be Spring 2:48
Written-By – Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers
6 Cry Me A River 8:50
Written-By – Arthur Hamilton
7 River Man 11:29
Written-By – Nicholas Drake
1 Quit 7:13
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
2 Secret Love 10:06
Written-By – Paul Francis Webster, Sammy Fain
3 Sublation 14:58
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
4 Resignation 8:39
Written-By – Brad Mehldau
5 Long Ago And Far Away 14:50
Written-By – Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern
6 How Long Has This Been Going On? 10:44
Written-By – George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
Credits:
Bass – Larry Grenadier
Drums – Jorge Rossy
Piano – Brad Mehldau
Centered around some soundtrack music that Herbie Hancock wrote for Bill
Cosby's Fat Albert cartoon show, Fat Albert Rotunda was Hancock's first
full-fledged venture into jazz-funk -- and his last until Head Hunters
-- making it a prophetic release. At the same time, it was far different
in sound from his later funk ventures, concentrating on a romping,
late-'60s-vintage R&B-oriented sound. with frequent horn riffs and
great rhythmic comping and complex solos from Hancock's Fender Rhodes
electric piano. The syllables of the titles alone -- "Wiggle Waggle,"
"Fat Mama," "Oh! Oh! Here He Comes" -- have a rhythm and feeling that
tell you exactly how this music saunters and swaggers along -- just like
the jolly cartoon character. But there is more to this record than
fatback funk. There is the haunting, harmonically sophisticated "Tell Me
a Bedtime Story" (which ought to become a jazz standard), and the
similarly relaxed "Jessica." The sextet on hand is a star-studded bunch,
with Joe Henderson in funky and free moods on tenor sax, Johnny Coles
on trumpet, Garnett Brown on trombone, Buster Williams on bass, and
Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums. Only Williams would remain for Hancock's
1977 electric V.S.O.P.: The Quintet album to come. In addition,
trumpeter Joe Newman, saxophonist Joe Farrell, guitarist Eric Gale, and
drummer Bernard Purdie make guest appearances on two tracks. Richard S. Ginell 
