Brad Mehldau Interview

vagfilm Could be those live recordings or could be you simply don't enjoy his playing which is completely fine. I wouldn't spend too much time fretting over it or typing about it as life is short and there is playing to be done.

I prefer Mehldau's trio and quartet playing as comping and musical interplay is a big part of what I love about jazz. I also really enjoy a lot of Mehldau's own compositions which just may not be your thing. His Ballads and Blues album has remained a staple in my playlist as have many of his other trio recordings.

I really don't listen to much solo jazz piano but it's nice in small doses. A couple guys you might enjoy if you don't know them already are Fred Hirsch and Aaron Parks. Both have a very melodic and vibey style that I quite enjoy. You might not like them but thought I'd share:

[https://youtu.be/DiQ_ou1YsbA?si=DVtOUDvpjftMafDp>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tgoP_XGQag

[deleted] Thanks for both references. I was (vaguely) aware of them from group recordings (aaron parks in particular) but never listened to their solo production. On a quick YT search I found Hersch "songs from home" that looks very promising… and Mehldau "elegiac cycle" is making me reconsider him; there is less hesitancy in studio recordings… But to my ears, no one gets even close to Jarrett, and I never get tired of him.

[deleted]

BTW, may I share a couple of "out of the box" solo jazz(y) recordings? Portugal is a small country without a strong musical tradition. Apart from Carlos Seixas (Bach competitor) and the modernism of Emmanuel Nunes (Berio competitor), there are no significant composers. But we have a soulful fisherman-songs musical genre called Fado, traditionally played with local handmade guitars. There are a couple of interesting solo piano recordings of Fado songs. One is from a portuguese jazz player, Julio Resende. The second one is from Maria João Pires (yeah, that Chopin player), that recorded a set of Fado compositions.

https://youtu.be/4Sla7ZYe6ns?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/ozDWLY5wlBs?feature=shared

vagfilm very nice. I particularly enjoyed the Resende recording, thanks for sharing.

vagfilm that’s very interesting, thanks. Both examples are very deep and melancholic which is something I really like but comes as a bit of surprise to me. Because for some rather subjective reasons I thought I hated fado but let me explain 😀 For our honeymoon we went to Madeira with my wife in 2016 but we had a one night stay in Lisbon first. We were in a small tourist group with three other people, women. One of them was that typical overenthusiastic type of tourist and she told us about Fado and how we should definitely go to a bar where we can listen to it. I hadn’t heard about that genre before. And so, we went somewhere and what I witnessed was like a madhouse, there was a female singer who sang in a very ugly way, jarring and loud, with a voice resembling screaming and crying… I was shocked and rather disgusted and you probably know me already that I am a moaner and can be nasty when I don’t like something and I started complaining about how that’s the music I will listen to, when I start cutting my veins, etc 🤣 And that girl who brought us there was mad at me for the entire journey… Anyway, not sure whether what we witnessed was real Fado, maybe some weird variety but I thought all Fado was some farcical BS. Your videos seem to be nothing like that. Maybe I have to revisit my prejudice. Thanks for the links 👍🏻

There is a fine line between wonderful fado singing, and fado shouting. It is always a bit shout in a moorish kind of wailing… Apart from the classics (gold standard is Amalia Rodrigues), this is the best modern example; if you don't like it, fado is not for you 😀. Understanding the lyrics is also crucial…

https://youtu.be/S2Ip-uUhaoI?feature=shared

vagfilm that’s pretty good too. OK. I guess we just happened to watch a rather bad fado in Lisbon.

As I said before, it is a fine line between artful wailing and awful shouting…Keep in mind that "fado" means fate, unavoidable destiny. So it is tragic almost hopeless singing. Thus, the wailing… At any given time there are at most 2-3 fado singers worth listening to. And ALL fado restaurants are tourist traps.

This is the original fado of the Julio Resende cover:

https://youtu.be/4DH4FIGQzK0?feature=shared

Well, at least Mehldau is not overrated. On the other hand I'll never understand why Hancock is so overrated. Is it just because he's "modern" sometimes playing the synth? Meh.

Pianissimo On the other hand I'll never understand why Hancock is so overrated. Is it just because he's "modern" sometimes playing the synth?

He had unique harmonic and improvisational language even in his acoustic period before he started working with synths. But also, because he could be successful in almost any type of music, is another argument why he’s great. I’m biased apparently because Chick, Herbie and Lyle Mays are to me the GOAT in jazz but of course people can disagree 🙂

CyberGene What are his best tunes, maybe I missed them. Every pianist made boring things and amazing things, including my favourites: Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Keith Jarrett.

Pianissimo I’ll mention a few of my favorites.

Maiden Voyage is innovative in that it’s entirely based on suspended chords which is a break from the functional types of progressions up to that moment or the modal jazz. It’s been cited as an inspiration to a lot of modern jazz composers for this use of chords for color (which is not a new concept in music and has been used in classical music for quite some time but maybe not so much in jazz). I guess it will sound like a fairly typical jazz to our ears now but it’s one of the trend setter records in the 1960-s.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EWC5x9G45yo

The entire album has often been mentioned as one of the pioneering records of the Post-Bop jazz.

And then his famous funky Chameleon track with that iconic Rhodes solo. Almost nobody at the time approached the Rhodes piano in such a manner that’s very different than acoustic piano. I’d go even farther to say he invented the jazz funk type of Rhodes soloing with the Head Hunters 😀
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM

Again, he was able to successfully mix jazz in different trendy styles such as disco, electro-pop, pop, fusion, hip-hop, EDM, etc. and that’s a rare thing among jazz players who often stayed within a certain genre their entire life. He was like Miles Davis in that regard but he’s a keyboard player and utilized modern (keyboard) technology, so naturally he appeals to us keyboardists.

CyberGene Maiden Voyage is innovative in that it’s entirely based on suspended chords

What did these chords do to get themselves suspended?

Surely, a suspension should be warranted if the offending chord misbehaves, but let us not suspend a chord that ain’t misbehavin’!😚

CyberGene Uhm, again, I think he's good, but overrated. I was expecting something extremely nice like Koln Concert by Jarrett. But thank you for sharing, master clacker.😬

Pianissimo I was expecting something extremely nice like Koln Concert by Jarrett

That's funny, shows how we're different 🙂 Because as much as I like some solo piano stuff from Jarrett and I have even recorded his Over the Rainbow transcription on my YouTube, I remember how my first encounter with Jarrett many years ago was the Köln Concert which I found (and still find) rather cheesy and to me it has always sounded like a non-jazz pianist trying to imitate jazz 😀 I'm on the fence with Jarrett as a whole, he has some great solo piano concerts, or at least parts of them, but he also has some stuff that annoys me to hell... I'd always choose Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock over Jarrett. So, yeah, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

CyberGene It's great to be different and have different taste. With Koln concert all I hear it's great music, great melody without being cheesy. Writing great melodies (after Bach, Handel, Mozart, Chopin, the Beatles) it's extremely difficult, and it's still the most ambitious thing.

Pianissimo I think Jarrett (and the Köln Concert in particular) is more into ECM stuff, I guess you know that label and its aesthetics. I know people who swear by that label. There are ECM records and artists that I love too but as a whole that label's stuff comes to me as a way too melancholic and depressive type of music for my taste. It just tries way too hard to sound sad for the sake of sounding sad. But again, Jarrett has some beautiful solo piano jazz ballads that are the best there can be.

CyberGene I am really not into labels or pigeon holes, thank goodness. Be free, be yourself. And farewell to record companies, now they are still targeting the teenagers with cheesy immature pop stuff, but they are just a shadow of what they used to be. I would say Napster was the beginning of their end.

Pianissimo

Pianissimo Seriously confused with the statement that he is overrated. I’ve actually never heard anyone say that.

Hancock is definitely not overrated when it comes to his rightful place in jazz history. He has written, compositions that are now considered to be jazz standards, his early work with Miles Davis helped to redefine the role of the piano in a jazz rhythm section, he pushed the boundaries of harmonic concepts and “jazz” vocabulary and then went on to expand the definition of what “jazz” could be with Mwandishi and with the Headhunters. His Headhunter era remains a huge influence on many young players over multiple genres.

Maybe you’re saying you don’t find his technique is that impressive and you would like to hear more of a classical and “ECM” influence ala Jarrett? His stature and place in jazz history is undeniable and you would be hard pressed to find any jazz historians, serious jazz fans or top jazz pianists who would state Hancock’s career and overall influence on pushing the music forward to be “overrated”.

I’m not trying to change your opinion on his playing as the music we enjoy helps to define our own style and voice on the instrument, just adding a little context as to why Hancock is held in such high regard.

[deleted] When I say overrated I mean he's on the media much more than other pianists that I like more than him, like Monk, or Petrucciani. Regarding his influence I have no doubt, but I think making great tunes is much more important than being influential. For example Schoenberg is influential, he has his importance, but as a composer I don't like him. Or The Edge, guitarist from U2, he's very influential as a guitarist, but to me he's just an amateur with a delay pedal.