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Brad Mehldau and Gary Burton Generations Quintet at the Kimmel Center

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The feeling was a bit like going from a chic piano salon in a friend
Brad Mehldau Solo
Gary Burton Generations Quintet
Kimmel Center, Verizon Hall
Philadelphia, PA
January 27, 2006

In this concert, part of the Mellon Jazz Festival series at the Kimmel, we heard two highly contrasting performances. Brad Mehldau, one of today's most favored jazz pianists, played a series of improvised compositions on a Steinway piano with no microphone, creating a concert hall recital of solo piano music with classical, popular, and jazz implications. This disciplined approach was followed by rock 'em sock 'em rhythm and blues and Latin-based jazz by veteran vibraphonist Gary Burton and a group of young men with prodigious talents who almost seemed to be vying to outdo one another in the intensity and virtuosity of their playing. The feeling was a bit like going from a chic piano salon in a friend's home to a Rolling Stones concert.

Mehldau started the evening, coming on stage in a most dignified manner, sitting at the Steinway Grand, and proceeding to play a series of improvised piano works, each a self-contained composition, structurally organized and impeccably articulated. He gave no titles to any of the compositions, and played them in the manner of a classical recital. His virtuosity, concentration, and grasp of the musical repertoire were remarkable. Just to give an idea of the individual pieces, the first was played with a warm, enveloping technique while at the same time reflecting the influence of Stravinsky, Poulenc, and even Bach. This, by contrast, was followed by a blues theme which started out using the right hand only, and quickly became a two-hand down-tempo boogie. Next, Mehldau played a slow melodic impressionistic free-associative imagistic series of shifting motifs with echoes of Satie and Debussy. This was followed by something like a Great American Songbook standard (perhaps I just didn't recognize the actual song), and wove a variety of motifs reminiscent of George Gershwin and Cole Porter, with a distinct American classical idiom that suggested the influence of Samuel Barber. Next he did a version of what was surely "I Fall in Love Too Easily, that may have been a homage to Bill Evans, reflecting the latter's innovative "cool architecture. And so on.

(Interestingly, a Temple University music student, double bassist Jordan Berger, told me after the concert that he recognized several specific tunes in the Mehldau mix. He mentioned the Beatles' "Martha My Dear," Thelonious Monk's "Think of One," John Coltrane's "Countdown," and a "couple of numbers" by the cult songwriter and guitarist Nick Drake. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this information, but I do defer to the younger generation.)

Many years ago, Leonard Bernstein forecasted that jazz and American classical music would merge. Mehldau's performance represents the apotheosis and realization of Bernstein's prophesy. Brad Mehldau is a magnificent musician. My only problem with him is a certain coldness which I also detect in his recordings. I talked with a some friends during the intermission, and they felt disappointed that, as one of them said, "It's not really jazz. I worry less and less about such categories, but I do have a concern about contemporary musicians who seem to prefer polish and perfection over passion. Keith Jarrett's solo improvisations are very disciplined, but they are full of human feeling and impregnated with a certain soulfulness. This is what this reviewer prefers, but the audience was riveted and totally won over by Mehldau. I have only recently become acquainted with Mehldau's playing, and perhaps it will take some time for me to assimilate his style.

Burton and his group immediately changed the atmospherics by belting out a rock theme that clearly reflected the influence of Burton's association with Larry Coryell. This was followed by a tango written by guitarist Julian Lage and for which pianist Vladim Neselovksyi outdid himself. Vladim brings a wonderful European jazz flavor to the group. He works a lot with chunks of chords, often dissonant, and his powerful hands never fail to make their points. He is going to make a major impact in the jazz world. Julian Lage, at age 17 is a musical prodigy who at age 11 performed at the Grammy Awards! He has a marvelous tone and plays complex lines with great ease, with a bright, swinging style in the tradition of Kenny Burrell and Herb Ellis. His guitar body is beveled, large, all stained wood, and has f-holes, something you don't see often among jazz players, and which gives his sound a very warm sonority. Burton has surrounded himself with youthful musicians of the highest caliber and the combination of his extensive experience and their freshness and vitality comes across very well.

All in all, this concert highlights the enormous diversity of contemporary jazz which the Kimmel Center, to their enduring credit, have brought to the fore. This large menu of styles to choose from is a great pleasure and mind-stretching. At the same time, there is a certain thread of syncopated blues that runs through the hundred or more years of jazz and with which it is identified. Could it be that all this creative evolution could place the deep blues tradition at risk to become an endangered species? I fervently hope not.

Personnel

Brad Mehldau: solo acoustic piano.

Gary Burton Generations Quintet: Gary Burton, vibraphone; Julian Lage, guitar; Vadim Neselovksyi, piano; Luques Curtis, bass; James Williams, drums.

Visit Brad Mehldau and Gary Burton on the web.

Photo Credit
Brad Mehldau by A. Murad Sekerli
Gary Burton by Marek Lazarski

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