Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Brad Mehldau..?

He's doing a radio head cover here in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3A-ml85B8

How do you feel about his playing style? Also, I know there's a recording out there of him covering "Martha My Dear" from the Beatles. It's insane, I really admire how spontaneous and sometimes dissonant he is. yeah? any opinions?

I saw him play solo at Zankel Hall in NYC a few years ago. It was one of the absolute great nights of piano I've ever heard.
Tremendous depth, concept, and execution.

Dave Frank

It took me a while to get used to Mehldau's style, but I'm now a huge fan. He has unique style and I've come to love it. His style is to start out with a very spase melody and then built on it, almost like a theme and variations. I heard him with his trio at the Chicago Jazz festival this summer and he was the highlight of the festival. Occasionally, his solos get a bit self indulgent for my taste, but when he's on, it's like an addiction; you crave more. Some of my favorite work of his, by the way, is on the two albums he did with Pat Metheny. Listen to the tune A Night Away from one of those two (I can't remember which). I also love his live at the Village Vanguard double CD from a couple of years ago.

I love Mehldau. There's always the dual response when you make a comment about Mehldau. There's the half that says "I can't connect to his music", and there's the other half that try to emulate him (me).

I would say, Mehldau's is the kind of music that would be the antithesis of the jazz in Wynton Marsalis' mind.

To me he has brought jazz to a new level and is a new level in modern Jazz. His piano sound is unique as well. According to him, it's mostly a "finger" based approach. His rhythmic capacity is mind blowing. His swing is not based on swing eighths but a subdivision of the bar that implies a deeper understanding of the genre.

So he doesn't float everyone's boat. But for those that he floats, it floats extremely highly.

I have tickets to see him in January...

Had a lesson where a large part of it was listening to Brad Mehldau solo and discussing the bass-line, harmony, rhythm and melody. Pretty difficult to emulate.

I mean is was solo piano...

His style would be so difficult to emulate... His mind must go off on tangents while he plays.

the beginning of the video I posted above for the cover "Knives Out", I believe is absolutely amazing. Catchy bassline, then all the sudden this attack of fast but subtle drums, and then Brad with a note then an absolutely beautiful and deep chord. (I'm guessing an inversion of a minor 6th chord, but that could just be me talking out of my bum.)

I listened to that clip and I miss the old drummer Jorge Rossy's looser time feel . The new drummer puts everybody so on top of the beat that they sounds almost machine like, sort of skittish or nervous feeling. I would rather be listening to the Jarrett trio for melodic soloing and soulfullness.

For some reason Mehldau doesn't do it for me. I can see he's pushing the rhythmic thing, but the actual soul of the music isn't there for me. It's like he's trying to be too fancy.

I saw him live two years ago at my jazz fest and wasn't all that impressed. One of my other friends didn't even bother going. We got those comp tickets because we were supposed to see the Esbjorn Svensson Trio but sadly he passed away the week before the show.

For my musician friends, they either think he's great or aren't into him at all. Very black and white.

I have to say I am a big fan. I love how he takes current music and fits it into the jazz idiom in his own way. To me, he follows the very definition of jazz by mastering the fundamental concepts and then building on them to make his own sound.

The Radio Head cover is great and he also does a great job with Blackbird. Take a listen to his rendition of Autumn Leaves as well--pretty original.

JPE

definitely one of my favorites. I'm trying to catch the Village Vanguard concert every year..I heard him quite a few times with the current Trio and the first Trio (W/jorge rossy)and solo and to my opinion its just getting better....and better

I completely agree. There are many pianists I would listen to before Brad. I think his "genius" gets in the way of the soul.

I have a CD of his and I seriously try to get into his style but I guess I am waiting for something to happen and IMHO it doesn't.

I dig Mehldau's style of interweaving melodies. His left hand work is really what I notice first. John Boy off of Highway Rider is such a tapestry. Descending melody with interesting use of major and minor chords along the way. For me, it is his ability to keep my musical interest as I cannot predict where he will go next.

His cover of "Favorite Things" is another one that just hits me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up4Ln8rqOzM

I used to think that until I heard this one ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ms_OwH2XCs

His new project is awesome (if you are a fan of obscure electronic music) and a departure from his previous work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnH27mxW0KM

I love his earlier endeavors best. With Joshua Redman - Mood Swings and Timeless Tales. On the album "Introducing BM," he plays "It might as well be Spring," in seven and that solo, IMO, is one of his best works. The "Art of the Trio, Vol. 1" he peaked for me. After that I just started to loose the connection, although there are many great individual songs I love, like Moon River on Art-Vol 2. I also love listening to earlier works when he's a sideman like with Lee Konitz, Charles Lloyd and John Scofield.

Of course, I still listen to him and many of his albums up to the ones with Pat. He's just not in rotation as much.

Not the biggest fan of Mehldau, saw him live and wasn't that impressed. all the young jazz cats want to emulate him though. I prefer E.S.T. but sadly he has passed.

Brad toured with Esbjörn Svensson Trio, so I assumed he also loved EST. I saw them in Boston outside, during a summer series at Copley Plaza.

36251...when was this? Actually I was planning to see EST in concert, and it just so happened that he died the week before. Shocking really. They gave me tickets to Mehldau instead, but to me it wasn't much consolation.