Artist: Brad Meldhau
Another Village Vanguard recording, Brad Mehldau Trio Live, was recorded in 2006 and released two years later. This also contained a variety of sources of material, including "Wonderwall" by rock band Oasis, "Black Hole Sun" by grunge band Soundgarden, and Chico Buarque's samba "O Que Será"; "it's business as usual – state-of-the-art contemporary jazz piano", commented Fordham.
In March 2007 Mehldau first performed his piano concerto "The Brady Bunch Variations for Piano and Orchestra", with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In 2009 Mehldau also recorded Highway Rider, an album that combined his usual trio with guest musicians and a 28-piece orchestra. In 2010–11 Mehldau held Carnegie Hall's Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair, the first jazz musician to do so.
In 2013 Mehldau began touring with drummer Mark Guiliana as a synthesizer-oriented duo that was given the portmanteau name "Mehliana". Their playing was largely improvised, and distantly influenced by dub, drum 'n' bass, electro, and funk. They released an album, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, in February 2014.
Mehldau often plays a separate melody with each hand, and one of the central features of his music is the playing of improvised counterpoint. He stated in 2002 that some of the content of his playing is affected by the music that he has recently been listening to: "If I'm digging a Brahms intermezzo that'll find its way in. If it's McCoy Tyner, there'll be more of that."
Mehldau has been nominated for several Grammy Awards. He was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo on "Blame It on My Youth" from The Art of the Trio Volume One in 1998, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Art of the Trio 4: Back at the Vanguard in 2000, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group for Brad Mehldau Trio Live in 2009, Best Improvised Jazz Solo for the title track of Ode in 2013, and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "Sleeping Giant" from Mehliana: Taming the Dragon in 2015.
He received two further nominations at the end of 2016: for Best Improvised Jazz Solo on "I Concentrate on You" from Blues and Ballads; and for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for the duo album Nearness, with Redman. At the end of 2018, Seymour Reads The Constitution! was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental album, and "De-Dah" from that album was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo. Finding Gabriel won Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 2020.
Further information about Brad Meldhaus found at BradMeldau.com.
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Mehldau, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Bradford Alexander Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Since the early 2000s, Mehldau has experimented with other musical formats in addition to trio and solo piano. Largo, released in 2002, contains electronics and input from rock and classical musicians. Aspects of pop, rock, and classical music, including German Romanticism, have been absorbed into Mehldau's writing and playing. Through his use of some traditional elements of jazz without being restricted by them, simultaneous playing of different melodies in separate hands, and incorporation of pop and rock pieces, Mehldau has influenced musicians in and beyond jazz in their approaches to writing, playing, and choice of repertoire.
Mehldau moved to New York City in 1988 to study jazz and contemporary music at The New School, on a partial scholarship. He studied under pianists Fred Hersch, Junior Mance and Kenny Werner, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. In 1989, Mehldau was a member of saxophonist Christopher Hollyday's band that toured for several months; as a result of playing so often with one group, Mehldau was able to assimilate the music of Wynton Kelly and McCoy Tyner, his two principal influences on piano up to that point, and began to develop his own sound.
Mehldau graduated from The New School in 1993, and he formed his first long-term trio in 1994, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. In the following year, Mehldau recorded Introducing Brad Mehldau for Warner Bros., his first album as sole leader.
In 1996, Mehldau made the first of several recordings with saxophonist Lee Konitz and bassist Charlie Haden. Mehldau's contributions to film music continued in 1997, with an accompanist role for some of the tracks recorded for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. His series of trio albums also continued, employing some of the traditional elements of jazz while not conforming to or being restricted by its norms. Live at the Village Vanguard: The Art of the Trio Volume Two consisted entirely of standards.
Mehldau's interest in figures of 19th century German Romanticism, including Brahms, Schubert, and Schumann, influenced his first solo piano release, Elegiac Cycle, which was recorded in 1999 and broke the sequence of trio recordings under his name. Art of the Trio 4: Back at the Vanguard was recorded and released in the same year, presenting more performances from the Village Vanguard. The recording features standards, Mehldau originals, Miles Davis' "Solar", and another version of "Exit Music (For a Film)". Also in 1999, Mehldau was pianist for two albums by saxophonist Charles Lloyd.
Brad Mehldau Quartet | #TransitionJazzFestival | Jazz Concert TivoliVredenburg (2021)
Brad Meldhau: Videos
Brad Mehldau with Jorge Rossy and Felix Moseholm (2020), Part 1