Yeah, Mehldau is an acoustic pianist. Check out his "Art of the Trio" recordings, Jerjo. He takes current rock songs and treats them as jazz standards. Very cool.
I picked up this yesterday:
87060.jpg
Yeah, Mehldau is an acoustic pianist. Check out his "Art of the Trio" recordings, Jerjo. He takes current rock songs and treats them as jazz standards. Very cool.
I picked up this yesterday:
87060.jpg
Which is not to say he doesn't play actual jazz standards too, as well as a lot of originals. He can and sometimes does do that "Bill Evans thing," but I hear a lot of influences in his playing; Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, etc... not to mention classical composers such as Debussy and Satie. I think he breaks a fair amount of "new ground" despite having many obvious influences. I just looked at some YT videos, trying to pick something quintessential of his out for Jerjo... and it's too hard! He covers a lot of ground for one thing, and he takes a lot of time developing and building his solos for another. I'd say he puts his left hand to more use than most jazz pianists, often playing contrapuntal lines or "comping" with his right hand while soloing with his left. My advice would be to spend a Brad Mehldau hour or two on YouTube and come to your own conclusions.
I've been sampling all morning. Looks like this guy is my type of jazz. I love trios and small ensembles, especially acoustic piano-driven. The "Art of the Trio" box is pretty affordable on Amazon so I might just start with that.
This is the trouble with getting into jazz at my advanced age. It runs so deep and so wide, with such a long history, that I am just flailing about searching for stuff I like. Thus a guy like Mehldau, who has been around for years, is totally under my radar. This is where PE is my best friend, and my bank account's worst enemy.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
New Pat Metheny recording of John Zorn songs, upcoming. http://www.patmetheny.com/tap/
"Besides his frequent collaborator, drummer Antonio Sanchez, Metheny plays all other instruments—guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, bandoneón, percussion, flugelhorn, and more—himself."
Speaking of pianists, I'm working my way through the latest Craig Taborn trio date Chants on ECM. Taborn's got a hip conception that sets him apart, evident as well on Chris Potter's recent The Sirens, also on ECM. Good stuff....
Last edited by mogrooves; 04-23-2013 at 10:01 PM.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Has anyone seen Chick's new project, "The Vigil?" I'm considering going Sunday, if I can get child-care arranged....Hadrian Feraud on bass....
I didn't know about this. Boy, he never slows down, does he?! Unfortunately, I just checked the tour dates on his website and he won't be coming to Chicago. Bummer! Hope you get to go, Cone! Chick is in his early 70s now and although he's still playing his ass off and seems to be in good health, I don't know how much longer we'll have these kind of opportunities.
I saw Chick a few years ago at the Jazzfest in Ottawa. He was with RTF and the show was alright, but by far my favorite part was when he did the acoustic jazz trio set. He is a monster and is in fine form.
David, he played at the Casino a several years before the RTF gig (which was a wanky borefest). He played with Eddie Gomez and Airto and it was just a great evening of acoustic jazz in a nice little hall. Too bad they don't book more shows like that instead of those silly tribute shows which the locals tend to patronize.
I would have liked to ses them at the Casino show! I might even forgive the Casino for almost deafening me at that stupid Musical Box show I was dragged to.
Last edited by fictionmusic; 04-24-2013 at 11:36 PM.
I think anyone who doubts Mehldau's rather singular talent need only watch this DVD to see how, as I put it, he does with one hand what most pianists need two to accomplish...or two hands doing what most pianists need a second pianist to achieve. Marcia is, imo, way better than 2003's Live in Tokyo, though that was a good show to be sure.
Review of Marciac here;
Review of Tokyo here.
Since I wrote the Tokyo review just a couple years after I started writing about music, it's a little embarrassing to look back on it, and it's a little more sycophantic than, I think, it ultimately deserves, especially when compared to Marcia; still, while I think Marcia trumps Tokyo, they're both great records, but Marcia edges out because you can actually get the chance to watch him, and this is a rare DVD that I've watched many times.
For those interested, here's a review of the Art of the Trio box, and a link to all my reviews of Mehldau's recorded work.
I got the Paul Motian ECM box in the mail yesterday and the first disc I played was Le Voyage, the trio session with Charles Brackeen on sax and J.F.Jenny-Clark on double bass(Paul Motian on drums).I'd never heard this record, even though I was curious about Le Voyage and Dance(the other ECM trio date,with Motian, Brackeen and David Izenzon on double bass)over the years.
Le Voyage is outstanding.Totally blew me away, start to finish.Strength, confidence,musicality,trio cohesion,all the accolades deserve to be tossed into the ring.A most satisfying listening experience,and this is just the first cd I've spun from this box!
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
I recently picked up the Steve Lacy Soul Note box, and I've been listening to another great trio album, The Window. I can't get enough of this one. The bass player, Jean Jacques Avenel has a great sound and feel, and plays very inventive lines. And Lacy sounds truly inspired on this date.
Yeah, I'd be happy if all he ever played was acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes. No slight to him, he's one of my biggest musical heros; incredible composer and improviser... he just never adapted to synths in a very pleasing way. But it's a pretty insignificant gripe, considering all of the great moments of art he's contributed to the world.
I listened to My Spanish Heart last weekend. Lots of good music on this one. Corea seems to favor cutesy, slightly cheesy synth sounds and pitch manipulation, but it has a certain charm to it, even if it isn't perceived as hip or cool.
I faded on Chick after about '71-ish; the only album I have after that time is the Bud Powell thing from the late 90s (that someone gave to me).
My fave Chick:
Bliss!
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
The Song of Singing
A.R.C.
Circle/The Paris Concert
Tones For Joan's Bones
Is
Last edited by mogrooves; 04-25-2013 at 04:25 PM.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
I totally agree. My gripe with his synth playing is he never really seemed to grasp the programming aspects of the instrument and instead relied on factory patches which typically seem to date the music.
Acoustic and electric piano have a timeless quality about them (although the Rhodes is a fairly recent instrument it has aged well and still enjoys a lot of use) and a lot the stuff that has that tone ages incredibly well.
I'm having the same feelings about gtr sounds too lately. McLaughlin, Holdsworth, Scofield, Stern and a lot of others, tend to favour the constant use of chorus and delay. I find that sound tiring. It seems to interfere with the way the overtones interact. When I listen to early McLaughlin (a la Lifetime or Extrapolation) or Holdsworth around the UK, Bruford era, I love their sound so much more.
One of the reasons Joe Pass' music has aged so well for me is that his tone is always very pure. I tend to favour a wee bit more distortion in my playing (or a lot depending) but the beauty of a gtr, a cable and an amp is something that has a greater appeal to me than the current gear page obsession.
Well, it's not like he's gotten worse over the years. But I understand, sometimes you can get over-saturated by one artist's work and feel like moving on to other things; that's certainly happened to me with several bands/artists. Somehow, I never get tired of CC though, although there's stuff in his huge discography that I'm not crazy about. Out of your list of favorite albums of his, I used to have "The Song of Singing" and "Tones For Joan's Bones" (although the version I had was called "Inner Space" and it had 4 bonus tracks) on vinyl and I have "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs" on CD. When the latter was released on CD, it was twice as long as the original vinyl version, with a bunch of other tracks from the same session (and no alternate takes). That was a beautiful thing! I have the "Remembering Bud Powell" CD too and I like it.
To be fair, Holdsworth never uses chorus on his lead sound, just on the clean sound he uses for chordal work. I'll admit, I still like chorusing, although I use it very sparingly... and never on an overdriven or distorted lead sound; I just don't like what chorusing does to that kind of sound. Stern is the worst offender; he never turns that damn chorus sound off! He's a great player, but I've gotten so tired of his sound, which hasn't changed in decades.
How to play a Mike Stern solo: start out playing a couple bluesy bends, then into Bop-derived nonstop 16th note patterns with the chorus pedal on...after throwing in some bluesy bends, step on the fuzz box for the climactic, high-on-the-next bend into the resolve.
Kidding a bit, I love Stern, but he does tend to have a certain...formula.
No you're not, Cone!
It's pretty spot on actually! There's one rock/blues lick that he repeats constantly; sometimes a dozen times in the same solo; gets on my nerves! Then again, Eric Dolphy was guilty of the same sort of thing with this one bebop lick he seemingly couldn't stop repeating. It's almost like the way people say "um" or "you know" when they talk.
But I do admire Stern, especially when he's playing straight ahead jazz. And he's written some really nice tunes!
Anyone know Paul Bollenback? I knew him back when (the 80s), and he's STILL using that god-awful chorus/delay!
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
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