Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Brad Mehldau: Live in Tokyo

299

Brad Mehldau: Live in Tokyo

By

View read count
Brad Mehldau: Live in Tokyo
Far be it from me to judge a record by its slipcover, but the photo of Brad Mehldau gracing the jacket of the pianist's new solo CD, Live in Tokyo (arms crossed, head bowed, jet-black background) made my heart sink. For if the prodigiously talented Mehldau has a tragic flaw, it's the self-conscious preciousness that seeps into much of his work and this is a slipcover that just screams important. Still, hope springs eternal and, tossing aside that worrisome sleeve, I waded in.

First, the good news: the program, recorded in one evening at Tokyo's Sumida Triphony Hall in February 2003, is typically quirky Mehldau (two songs each by Nick Drake and the Gershwins, one Porter tune, one Monk, a very short Mehldau original "Intro," and a very long take on Radiohead's "Paranoid Android") and the disc is peppered with trademark doses of dizzying technique.

But I'm afraid neither is enough to overcome the dour, relentless seriousness of the entire affair. Nearly everything is taken at a funereal pace, most damagingly "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "From This Moment On." (The latter picks up speed toward the middle, but it's too little, too late.) "Paranoid Android" is better, if over-long (we get warmed-over Keith Jarrett by the end of the twenty-minute odyssey) and the Drake songs, if unremarkable, work just fine.

But only "Monk's Dream" and "How Long Has This Been Going On" really catch fire here, and for oddly opposing reasons at that: "Going On" fits the pianist's deep dark introspection like a glove, while not even Mehldau can resist the playfulness inherent in Monk. Stooping happily to quote Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" in the midst of the loose, gnashing fray he brings to Monk's tune, Mehldau reveals clearly what's missing from the rest of this record: fun.

Track Listing

1- Things Behind the Sun (Drake) / 2- Intro (Mehldau) / 3- Someone to Watch Over Me (Gershwin/Gershwin) / 4- From This Moment On (Porter) / 5- Monk's Dream (Monk) / 6- Paranoid Android (Yorke/O'Brein/Greenwood/Greenwood/Selway) / 7- How Long Has This Been Going On? (Gershwin/Gershwin) / 8- River Man (Drake).

Personnel

Brad Mehldau - piano.

Album information

Title: Live in Tokyo | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Nonesuch Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Brad Mehldau Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.