Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau |
|---|
Brad Mehldau (born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist.
Career
Early life
Mehldau was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1970, grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Hall High School in 1988.[1] He played piano from an early age, and discovered jazz at the age of twelve, when a friend played him a live recording of John Coltrane. Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker [1], who were early influences. He went on to play in his high school's jazz band. The first jazz record he purchased was Coltrane's Blue Train[2].
Late 1980s
Mehldau moved to New York in 1988 to study jazz at The New School, studying under Fred Hersch, Junior Mance and Kenny Werner, and also playing with Jackie McLean and Jimmy Cobb [3]. He went on to play as sideman with a variety of musicians, most importantly with the Joshua Redman quartet, before forming his own trio in 1994, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, and later Jeff Ballard, who succeeded Rossy in 2005. In addition to his trio work, Mehldau collaborated with guitarist Pat Metheny, releasing two albums with him and embarking on a worldwide tour along with Grenadier and Ballard.
1990s and 2000s
Recording primarily for Nonesuch Records, Mehldau plays original compositions, jazz standards and jazz arrangements of popular music. Mehldau has also expressed an interest in and knowledge of philosophy, in particular of music and art. He has also played and recorded solo and with co-leaders Peter Bernstein, Mark Turner, Charlie Haden, Charles Lloyd, Pat Metheny and others. In 2004, Mehldau toured with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman.
He cites as influences Miles Davis, Larry Goldings, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jesse Davis, David Sanchez, Oscar Peterson and the other members of his own trio [4]. His classical training shows, and he often plays a separate melody with each hand in unusual rhythmic meters. For example, he plays his arrangement of Jerome Kern's standard "All the Things You Are" on Art of the Trio, Vol. IV in A major (a half-step up from the original key, A-flat major) moving up a semi-tone each chorus, and plays in 7/8 time. On Day Is Done, he also plays Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" in 7/8. Another of Mehldau's signature techniques is to create an ostinato in his right hand whilst developing a motivic idea in his left hand.
Discography
Albums as leader or solo
- Introducing Brad Mehldau (1995)
- The Art of the Trio (1997)
- The Art of the Trio, Vol. II — Live At The Village Vanguard (1997)
- The Art of the Trio III — Songs (1998)
- Elegiac Cycle (1999)
- The Art of the Trio, Vol. IV — Back At The Vanguard (1999)
- Places (2000)
- The Art of the Trio, Vol. V — Progression (2001)
- Largo (2002)
- Anything Goes (2004)
- Live in Tokyo — Solo Piano (2004)
- Day is Done (Trio) (2005)
- House on Hill (Trio) (2006)
- Live (Trio) (2008)
Albums as co-leader
- New York-Barcelona Crossings Volume 1 (1993) Mehldau, Rossy, Rossy, Sambeat
- New York-Barcelona Crossings Volume 2 (1993) Mehldau, Rossy, Rossy, Sambeat
- When I Fall In Love (1993) Mehldau & Rossy Trio
- Consenting Adults (1994) Mehldau, Turner, Bernstein, Grenadier, Parker
- Alone Together (1997) Mehldau, Haden, Konitz
- Another Shade of Blue (1999) Mehldau, Haden, Konitz
- Close Enough For Love (1999) Fleurine
- Don't Explain (2004) Joel Frahm, Brad Mehldau
- Love Sublime (2006) Brad Mehldau, Renée Fleming
- Metheny/Mehldau (2006) Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny
- Metheny Mehldau Quartet (2007) Mehldau, Metheny, Grenadier, Ballard
Albums as sideman
- Mood Swing (1994)- Joshua Redman
- Moving In (1996, Concord)- Chris Potter
- Timeless Tales (for Changing Times) (1998)- Joshua Redman
- The Water Is Wide (2000, ECM)- Charles Lloyd
- Hyperion With Higgins (2001, ECM)- Charles Lloyd
- Works For Me (2001, Verve)- John Scofield
- Alegria (2003, Verve)- Wayne Shorter
- Like a Dream (2004, CryptoGramophone)- Darek Oleszkiewicz
- Deep Song (2005, Verve)- Kurt Rosenwinkel
- Blues Cruise (2005, FSNT)- Chris Cheek
- Pilgrimage (2006, Telarc)- Michael Brecker
TV Appearances
- SOLOS: the jazz sessions (2004) Bravo! Canada
Soundtracks
- Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
- Space Cowboys (2000)
- Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
- Ma Femme Est une Actrice (2001)
- "Unfaithful" (2002)
- Mehldau's "When It Rains", the opening track on Largo (2002), and "Young at Heart" appear in the 2006 film The Lake House but not on the accompanying soundtrack itself.