Search - Brad Mehldau :: Largo

Matt B. from VANCOUVER, WA
Reviewed on 9/1/2009...

Great Jazz piano. The cover of radioheads paranoid android is amazing.

One Finger Symphonies

Patrick Burnette | Crawfordsville, IN USA | 12/29/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The idea behind Largo sounds good - put jazz pianist Brad Mehldau into pop contexts crafted by Jon Brion, whose production work with Aimee Mann and Fiona Apple was witty and warm, if also a little mannered at times. Jazz desperately needs to expand its appeal to non-initiates. No need to dumb it down (we've got plenty of stupid music to satisfy our baser urges) but no reason to expect audiences to respond to a set of cultural reference-points fifty years old. Widely ranging textures, familiar rock rhythms, and a repertoire that goes beyond the bebop era are all plausible ways of luring younger folk into the fold. And by all means, lure away - as long as the spontaneity, intelligence, and freedom characteristic of jazz remains. Largo, unfortunately, doesn't have these characteristics. Brion's pop arrangements and sound manipulations are fine, although nothing spectacular. But Mehldau never finds his place within them. The first problem is the mix. Even when not being obtrusively tweaked by Brion, Mehldau's piano sound lacks body and texture. Brion may be able to juggle dozens of instruments in his studio, but this production doesn't seem to appreciate the jazzer's ability to get many different and rich sonorities out of a single piano (or horn or bass or drumset . . .) The piano sounds distant in the mix, which is odd given that Mehldau headlines the project. You rarely have the sense that Mehldau is driving, inspiring, or even interacting with the rest of the musicians. Nothing kills a good jazz buzz more quickly.More troubling, Mehldau hasn't figured out how to solo effectively in Brion's environments. The pianist relies almost exclusively on single-note lines. This further erodes the instrument's textural interest, but it also robs Mehldau of the harmonic and rhythmic inventiveness that marks his trio work. Mehldau usually relies on ostinatos and obsessive reworking of motivic ideas to generate tension and release in his playing; these go missing. Worse, the simple harmonic foundations of Largo's songs sabotages the linear, single-note approach. The best known linear players - Bud Powell, and Lenny Tristano, for instance - thrived in the harmonic labyrinths of bebop. They built excitement fighting through the maze. Applied to pop chord progressions, linear playing too often degenerates into noodling. Mehldau throws some outside note choices and tricky turns into his lines, but doesn't develop these into anything memorable. At times, he just taps out a close paraphrase of the melody. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with improvising over harmonically simple music with pop rhythms and textures, but Mehldau's approach doesn't work. More riffs and patterns, more distinctive musical ideas and more sense that Mehldau can feed off of and influence the other musicians might have led to a compelling record. As it is, Largo is an interesting failure. With luck, the next experiment works better."

The way ahead

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 03/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When an artist as young, accomplished, and highly regarded as Brad Mehldau strikes out on a new path, he's bound to be criticized. And he's gotten his fair share of dissing on this site and elswhere.Let's get a few things straight. First, Mehldau has lost none of his pianistic brilliance. If you think so, give a listen his outro solo on "Dropjes." Secondly, he most certainly does know how to inject his unique pianism into Jon Brion's soundscapes. Check out how integrated and wonderful-sounding his piano is on "Paranoid Android," which showcases everything that's great about this record--the seemless integration of jazz and pop elements, the extraordinarily clear piano sound, the discrete use of electronics, the perfect translation of a pop sensibility into an authentic jazz setting. Third, there's noting wrong with Melhdau's vibes playing. It's a little naive and ideosyncratic, but so what?Mehldau has always been a master of moods. Nothing has changed here; what he's done, in my view, is just brilliantly expand his musical/emotional palette. This, quite naturally, doesn't sit well with everyone. Tough luck. If you're down with Dave Douglas' Freak In, The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Chris Destrin, etc., you'll dig it. Otherwise, probably not."