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Brad Mehldau: Ride into the Sun
by Frank Housh
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 ...
Continue ReadingLyle Workman: Uncommon Measures
by Mike Jacobs
If there's a major takeaway to be had from listening to guitarist Lyle Workman's Uncommon Measures, it's the palpable sense that all of his impressive musical experience has been poured into it. And to that end, Workman certainly doesn't bury the lead. The epic opening track “North Star" can single-handedly make sense of Workman's entire decades-long resume. It's a CV that includes working in and with bands (Bourgeois Tagg, Jellyfish, Frank Black), being a “hired gun" guitarist (with such icons ...
Continue ReadingBrad Mehldau: Highway Rider
by Karl Ackermann
As a classically trained teen, Brad Mehldau was introduced to the music of Keith Jarrett setting him on the road to jazz. He did not abandon the classical genre and those influences were powerfully present in his first solo release Elegiac Cycle (1999). He has since written pieces for the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France and Carnegie Hall commissions for Anne Sofie von Otter and Renée Fleming respectively. Highway Rider is a two disc showcase of Mehldau's growth as both a composer ...
Continue ReadingHighway Rider
by John Kelman
For a pianist who not only demonstrated remarkable promise, but actually began delivering on it at a very early stage in his career with what would ultimately become his five-part Art of the Trio (Warner Bros.) series, Brad Mehldau's side projects have--with the exception of the solo Live in Tokyo (Nonesuch, 2004)--met with mixed reactions. Perhaps it's because of his emergence as one of modern jazz's most distinctive and popular interpreters of both contemporary song and standard material in a ...
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