Brad Mehldau Interview

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.

Pianissimo making great tunes is much more important than being influential.

??? You lost me here…

Pianissimo When I say overrated I mean he's on the media much more than other pianists

Herbie has been heavily promoted. When the industry over-promotes a performer/product, it tends to trickle down to the fandom that in turn, by rote, tends to do what they’ve been told ( advertised) to do; over-rate their opinion of the performer.

Think of the recent halftime LViii Ritual and (heavily-promoted) Alicia, who played the keys on a blood-red prop “piano” for, what?, 5 seconds.

Drew-r Think of the recent halftime LViii Ritual and (heavily-promoted) Alicia, who played the keys on a blood-red prop “piano” for, what?, 5 seconds.

…..and to piss me off a little more, she got a cool 5 million for them 5 seconds; and she can’t even play Chopin!☺️

CyberGene

I don't agree on that. I think that's one of the few YouTubers that run a music channel and is prepared enough to ask questions and has deep knowledge of music. Could you reference a specific video which makes you think that way?

Koobenot there’s a similar thread on the KC forum and a lot of people there seem to be equally annoyed with Beato and have expressed in a lot of details why they avoid him too. I stopped watching him long ago and I am definitely not watching him again in order to find examples of why I don’t like him, that would be yet another lost time 😀 The guy has some good interviews but he’s extremely biased and he’s a clickbaiter. Even the title of this interview is a clickbait. He makes money with YouTube impressions and views and so to succeed he has to resort to some dubious tactics.

Koobenot Agreed! I don't watch any of Beato's other content but his interviews are just fantastic

If "Click Baito" invests his money for interviews with good artists I am going to watch it. He started his youtube career as a reactionist, now he can consider himself an interviewer, that's a nice job.

vagfilm

Oh, can I comment on this even thought it’s a few months back?

So I really like Brad Mehldau, sometimes there’s something about his playing that bugs me but I never knew what it was. Maybe it’s the left hand thing? He plays a beautiful version of Blackbird, but listen to his left hand, it… kinda bugs me. But I still love it. 😃

https://youtu.be/kruKQCY77bc?si=coQCbe2EkvVUAANv

ShiroKuro I wish my left hand sounded that good when I played.

[deleted]

And I would give my right hand for my left to play that well. This said, there is something in his playing that, for me, is deeply annoying.

I agree with you both… as I said, I love it, it kinda bugs me, but I still love it.

vagfilm He has such a wide range of recordings and not all of it is to my taste but the recordings I like of his are among my favorites. His trio work with Grenadier and Ballard is the setting I enjoy him the most in. I've seen them many times over the years and they just get better and better.

Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.

[deleted] Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.

I just listened "Blackbird" in the video a few posts up and after reading the comments here I was wondering if I'd hear something annoying. 😀

I'm not a connoisseur of Jazz, but it sounded very beautiful to me. I liked the consistent pulse in his left hand in that arrangement. Some Jazz piano is like boogie-woogie. I can listen to it for a little while but then it starts to drive me crazy. What style of Jazz is Brad's Blackbird arrangement? I'd add that to my iTunes library.

God Bless,
David

David B Mehldau's influences range from jazz to classical to pop and even grunge so hard to pin him down with the standard "jazz" musician label. I suppose one would just call it a solo piano arrangement perhaps?

He kept it short and simple there which he does on occasion but when he stretches out he may lose those less inclined to more "outside" playing. The only recordings of Blackbird that I'm aware of on iTunes/Spotify are one trio recording which definitely takes a jazzier turn and one live solo recording that you may or may not like as he stretches out on that one with more improvisation.

I think a lot of his solo playing would be in your "drives me crazy" category but you might enjoy this one as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCfmg-Qut9I

My personal favorite Beatles cover he has recorded is from his Ballads and Blues album but again, this one may veer into territory that you don't enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDl9q2gaVwk