Search - Brad Mehldau :: Songs: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3

Soulful, humble, and brilliant

09/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a classically trained musician. I went to an excellent music school that also had one of the best jazz programs in the nation, run by Jackie McLean. I heard some good jazz while I was there. But frankly the old classical musician's put-down, saying that something was "good enough for jazz," more often than not rang true for me. There didn't seem to be a truly sophisticated and solid grounding in structure and harmony in most jazz that I heard. The premium was on improvisation, to the seeming detriment of coherence. Jazz seemed more amorphous and haphazard than not.But Brad Mehldau was a complete revelation for me. Structure and improvisation, freedom and discipline all coexisting together, all combining into an unbelievable organic whole that simply must be experienced to be fully appreciated. This is music making at its highest. Listening to Brad Mehldau for me is like listening to what Bach might have done if he had been a jazz musician. Brad plays from his heart and his soul, and yet his playing always has an overarching structure that is so subtly rendered that it simply blends into the whole, with seemingly no effort.And don't buy any of that B.S from other reviewers about him being a prima donna. I just met the man in person last night in San Francisco and I can tell you for a fact that he is about as decent, humble, and nice a person as you could ever want in a good friend, let alone one of the greatest musicians on the planet.Get this CD, listen to it, and let it fill you heart and soul with truth, love, and possibility."

What color is the sky in your universe, Perth?

09/14/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Woe unto Perth for single-handedly lowering this magnificent album's rating to four measley stars. It is doubly unfortunate because the first purchase of an artist for most people tends not to be something entitled "Volume 3." So here you have a tremendously lyrical, imaginative, melodic album with covers of everyone from Hart to Radiohead, and some people are not going to buy it because it "only" has 4 stars and because it's not Volume 1. Instead, they will opt for something like Elegiac Cycles which, while great, leaves one thinking that Brad is in dire need of Prozac. Fully spent from listening to it, they may not want to buy another Mehldau album for some time. What a shame, because there can be no better introduction to this incredibly gifted artist than Art of the Song."

Please stop with this evans/jarrett thing!

Christopher Jones | Tacoma, WA United States | 04/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thought I'd do my part and get that rating back up! Although I favor the live editions of the "Art of" series, this is probably my favorite of Mehldau's studio recordings. The trio is in fine form here, with Grenadier and Rossy ever-slightly more attuned to Brad's conception. Vol. 1 was, of course, stellar, but I give Vol. 3 the nod, if only because Brad covers a tune by Radiohead! I also love the passages where Brad is improvising with both hands--independently! Now, to address this Bill Evans/Keith Jarrett thing. Okay, I can see the Keith Jarrett thing if only because Brad's style seems to be similarly folksy and organic (at times). But I really can't see many ostensible likenesses to Bill Evans, except for the fact that you can't play jazz piano and NOT be influenced by Bill Evans. Brad is much more Jarrett than Evans, and even then he brings so much of himself to the game that the comparison to Jarrett is, at best, tenuous. The point remains...why must we insist on comparing this remarkably fresh, new voice to those who have preceded him. He's offered us music that is, I feel, teeming with vitality and originality. Let's just let Brad be Brad."