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Brad Mehldau at the Village Vanguard
by Eric Benson
Brad Mehldau Trio Village Vanguard New York, NY May 5 & 9, 2009 No major jazz artist of the last 25 years has been more closely associated with a single venue than pianist Brad Mehldau with the Village Vanguard. Of the 11 trio albums he's released since signing with Warner Bros in 1994, four have been recorded live at jazz's most hallowed club. Pianist Bill Evans—who had a similarly synergistic relationship with the Vanguard ...
Continue ReadingBrad Mehldau Trio: Live
by Andrew Velez
Returning to New York's Village Vanguard for another live recording, pianist Brad Mehldau's trio has Larry Grenadier (bass) returning and Jeff Ballard (drums) taking over for Jorge Rossy. Music seems to just pour out of Mehldau, as is buoyantly evident here. And often, as with Chico Buarque's “O Que Sera" or Chris Cornell's “Black Hole Sun," it flows at a dizzying pace. Much of this set's made up of Mehldau's own compositions such as “B-Flat Waltz"; the ...
Continue ReadingBrad Mehldau Trio at Wolf Trap
by Dean Christesen
Brad Mehldau TrioWolf Trap, The BarnsVienna, VirginiaApril 30, 2008
A well-developed solo is a beautiful construction that takes time. Using time to their advantage, the Brad Mehldau Trio played an intoxicating set at the Barns at Wolftrap. The trio's latest album, Live (Nonesuch, 2008), came to life as the sense of blossoming solos on the recording was fully in flower on stage.
They played material none of which was on the latest release, performing an ...
Continue ReadingThe Brad Mehldau Trio at Nighttown
by Matt Marshall
The Brad Mehldau Trio Nighttown Cleveland Heights, OH April 3, 2008
Set One
The Brad Mehldau Trio stepped out from the hall at the corner of Nighttown's concert dining room, snaked around some tables and took up their instruments unannounced. Many in the crowd looked for verbal confirmation from an announcer or the musicians, but the boys simply started in.
Mehldau, his right shoulder pressed to chin, frowned over the ...
Continue ReadingBrad Mehldau Trio: Live
by John Kelman
It's been three years since Jeff Ballard replaced original drummer Jorge Rossy in pianist Brad Mehldau's trio with bassist Larry Grenadier. While the trio has been busy on its own and with guitar icon Pat Metheny in support of Metheny Mehldau (Nonesuch, 2006) and Quartet (Nonesuch, 2007), it's also been three years since Day is Done (Nonesuch, 2005)-- its only release to date. Rossy's departure left a significant gap to fill, but Ballard's greater energy and dynamism has ushered Mehldau's ...
Continue ReadingMarian McPartland's Piano Jazz: Brad Mehldau
by Samuel Chell
Brad Mehldau Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz: Brad Mehldau Concord Records 2007
The pianist Marian McPartland gave an outdoor concert in my small Midwest community several summers ago, and attending the event led me to a realization about the appeal of Piano Jazz, her syndicated, international jazz show that has been running for 27 years, the longest streak of any cultural program to air on NPR. The crowd's response to her trio was at best ...
Continue ReadingBrad Mehldau: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Brad Mehldau
by Ken Dryden
Brad Mehldau's 1996 appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz is a typically enjoyable program in this long running NPR series, featuring the then up-and-coming pianist playing at the top of his game and engaging in enlightening conversation with his host about his interests and influences. Yet another musician who initially began classical studies but gravitated to jazz at an early age, Mehldau is very soft spoken about his accomplishments. Mehldau's imaginative approach to the standard “From This ...
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