Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Brad Mehldau: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Brad Mehldau

431

Brad Mehldau: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Brad Mehldau

By

View read count
Brad Mehldau: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Brad Mehldau
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 Moment On utilizes multiple lines simultaneously rather than simply soloing against standard chord changes. The seeming-influence of Bill Evans is apparent in his driving original "Ron's Place, while he showcases his lyrical side in a lush, spacious treatment of "When I Fall in Love, filling it with inventive voicings. McPartland's solos include moving renditions of "I Get Along Without You Very Well and the less frequently performed "I See Your Face Before Me.

Among their successful duets are a pair of old chestnuts ("Stella By Starlight and "Our Love is Here to Stay ) plus a lively improvised blues to wrap up the date. Although Concord doesn't seem to have any particular formula for choosing which of the hundreds of performances to issue from Marian McPartland's radio series, Piano Jazz fans will enjoy every moment of this meeting.

Track Listing

Conversation; From This Moment On; Conversation; Ron's Place; Conversation; Stella By Starlight; Conversation; I Get Along Without You Very Well; Conversation; When I Fall in Love; Conversation; (Our) Love is Here to Stay; Conversation; I See Your Face Before Me; Conversation; No Particular Blues; Conversation.

Personnel

Brad Mehldau: piano; Marian McPartland: piano.

Album information

Title: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Brad Mehldau | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Concord Music Group

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

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

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.