Brad Mehldau

Pianist Brad Mehldau has recorded and performed extensively since the early 1990s. Mehldau’s most consistent output over the years has taken place in the trio format. Starting in 1996, his group released a series of five records on Warner Bros. entitled The Art of the Trio. Mehldau also has a solo piano recording entitled Elegiac Cycle, and a record called Places that includes both solo piano and trio songs. Elegiac Cycle and Places might be called “concept” albums. They are made up exclusively of original material and have central themes that hover over the compositions. Other Mehldau recordings include Largo, a collaborative effort with the innovative musician and producer Jon Brion, and Anything Goes—a trio outing with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy.

His first record for Nonesuch, Brad Mehldau Live in Tokyo, was released in 2004. After ten rewarding years with Rossy playing in Mehldau’s regular trio, drummer Jeff Ballard joined the band in 2005. The label released its first album from the Brad Mehldau Trio—Day is Done—in 2005.

Mehldau’s musical personality forms a dichotomy. He is first and foremost an improviser, and greatly cherishes the surprise and wonder that can occur from a spontaneous musical idea that is expressed directly, in real time. But he also has a deep fascination for the formal architecture of music, and it informs everything he plays. In his most inspired playing, the actual structure of his musical thought serves as an expressive device. As he plays, he listens to how ideas unwind, and the order in which they reveal themselves. Each tune has a strongly felt narrative arch, whether it expresses itself in a beginning, an end, or something left intentionally open-ended. The two sides of Mehldau’s personality—the improviser and the formalist—play off each other, and the effect is often something like controlled chaos.

Mehldau has performed around the world at a steady pace since the mid-1990s, with his trio and as a solo pianist. His performances convey a wide range of expression. There is often an intellectual rigor to the continuous process of abstraction that may take place on a given tune, and a certain density of information. That could be followed by a stripped down, emotionally direct ballad. Mehldau favors juxtaposing extremes. He has attracted a sizeable following over the years, one that has grown to expect a singular, intense experience in his performance.

In addition to his trio and solo projects, Mehldau has worked with a number of great jazz musicians, including a rewarding gig with saxophonist Joshua Redman’s band for two years, recording and concerts with Charlie Haden and Lee Konitz, and recording as a sideman with the likes of Wayne Shorter, John Scofield, and Charles Lloyd.

Mike Jurkovic's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025

by Mike Jurkovic
December 2, 2025

Many things besides the demise of democracy got in the way of listening to everything, but these are the discs still in heavy rotation. Vijay Iyer Thereupon Pi Recordings Gonzalo RubalcabaFirst Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club 5Passion Records Sylvie CourvoisierBone Bells Pyroclastic Records

Live Review

Christian McBride and Brad Mehldau at The Clarice

by Robert Bellafiore
October 7, 2025

Christian McBride and Brad Mehldau The Clarice College Park, MDOctober 2, 2025 Christian McBride and Brad Mehldau made it to the top of their game together, each helping the other rise from promising talent in early '90s New York City to modern king of the bass and piano, respectively. Now, they can afford to take an occasional look back, reuniting with former colleagues and digging up old tunes. This retrospective mindset has given ...

Radio & Podcasts

Reflection... New Music from Brad Mehldau, Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura as well as Scree

by Hobart Taylor
September 10, 2025

Brad Mehldau reimagines Elliot Smith, Shawn Purcell urges us to “Quiet the Chaos," and a classic cut from Barbara Thompson. Playlist Matthew Jamal / Shabaka Hutchings “Laura" from (Single) (Self-Produced) 00:00 Holly Palmer “Metamorphosis (Capes Up!)" from Metamorphosis (Self-Produced) 4:54 David Occhipinti “Canticum Abaci" from Camera Lucida (Elastic) 8:18 Kelly Green “Blue and Green" from Corner of my Dreams (La Reserve/Green Soul) 13:26 Host Speaks 17:58 Nadav Remez “Summit" from Summit (Self-Produced) 19:44 Jamile / Miki Yamanaka “Bodas ...

Album Review

Brad Mehldau: Ride into the Sun

Read "Ride into the Sun" reviewed by Frank Housh

by Frank Housh
August 29, 2025

Elliott Smith (1969-2003) recorded six solo studio albums and was acclaimed for poignant, sophisticated songwriting and reedy, melodious voice. Tragically, he suffered from mental health issues and substance abuse throughout his life. On October 1, 2003 Smith died of two stab wounds to his chest. While initial media reports said the fatal wounds were self-inflicted, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner refused to endorse suicide as a cause of death. Toxicology tests found no illegal or controlled substances in his ...

Live Review

Brad Mehldau Trio At National Concert Hall

by Ian Patterson
July 1, 2025

Brad Mehldau Trio National Concert Hall Perspectives Dublin, Ireland June 25, 2025 Brad Mehldau looked like a man at ease as he walked to his piano, turned and bowed graciously to the audience. For sure, Dublin's National Concert Hall is a familiar venue--he had played here at least four times previously since a solo performance in 2004. At the end of the day, however, it is probably just another well--appointed venue among many to ...

In Pictures

The Brad Mehldau Trio at SFJAZZ

by Ronald Davis
May 7, 2025

A collection of photos of the The Brad Mehldau Trio at SFJAZZ in San Francisco on April 3, 2025 featuring Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Marcus Gilmore. ...

Live Review

Brad Mehldau Trio Groovin' High at SFJAZZ

by Roy Strassman
April 26, 2025

Brad Mehldau Trio SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA April 3, 2025 SFJAZZ Center honored the Bay Area's jazz fans with the Brad Mehldau-Christian McBride-Marcus Gilmore trio, in town for a four-night run from April 3-6, 2025. Opening night was a real treat for the ear, eye, and soul. Casually dressed, the players took the stage, exuding a quiet confidence characteristic of master musicians. The set opened with Mehldau's catchy “26," which swung and ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Recording

Brad Mehldau & Ian Bostridge Present 'The Folly Of Desire'

Source: Vivo Musique Internationale
May 24, 2023

NEW SONG CYCLE INQUIRING THE LIMITS OF SEXUAL FREEDOM Brad Mehldau presents The Folly of Desire, a song cycle inquiring the limits of sexual freedom in a post-#MeToo political age, together with tenor Ian Bostridge, one of the greatest song interpreters of our times. Setting poetry by Blake, Yeats, Shakespeare, Brecht, Goethe, Auden and Cummings, Mehldau’s music shifts seamlessly between a jazz idiom and Classical art song, and the work explores a theme as timeless as it is topical. The ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Recording

'MTB - Consenting Adults,' The Seminal Criss Cross Album Released On 180 Gram Vinyl By Elemental Music

Source: Elemental Music
June 18, 2021

For the first time ever on vinyl, we edited this beautiful Gatefold 2-LP set with High Quality 180 gram Audiophile Vinyl. Recorded at RPM Studio, New York City on December 26, 1994 and mastered for vinyl and lacquer cutting by the great Bernie Grundman Studios. This celebrated release will be available for the second drop of Record Store Day on July 17th. Music writer and regular collaborator at Downbeat and Jazziz, Ted Panken, introduces this seminal Criss Cross album as ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Brad Mehldau

Source: Michael Ricci
August 23, 2018

All About Jazz is celebrating Brad Mehldau's birthday today!

Recording

Brad Mehldau Trio's New Album, "Seymour Reads the Constitution!," Out Now

Source: Nonesuch Publicity
May 20, 2018

Brad Mehldau Trio's new album, Seymour Reads the Constitution!, is out now on Nonesuch Records. The pianist and his longtime trio, which includes drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier, perform three Mehldau originals combined with interpretations of pop songs (Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson), jazz tunes (Elmo Hope, Sam Rivers), and one work from the American songbook (Frederick Loewe's “Almost Like Being in Love"). To purchase a copy of Seymour Reads the Constitution!, head to your local record store, iTunes, ...
read more

Performance / Tour

The Lead Sheet: Twin Cities Live Jazz, December 2017

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
December 1, 2017

Our spring-like weather will probably fade into winter— after all, it is winter in Minnesota! But falling temperatures (and perhaps the white stuff too) will be countered by rising heat from both local and visiting jazz artists as we count down 2017. This month we welcome such touring talents as Earl Klugh, Brad Mehldau, Benny Green, Joey DeFrancesco, Bobby Lyle, Chris Speed, John Raymond, and of course, ending the year as well as the original configuration, The Bad Plus. From ...
read more