By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
Brad Mehldau Trio, Nov. 30, at St. Cecilia Music Center, Grand Rapids, Mi.
60-second Review
Pianist Brad Mehldau is often referred to as a “lyrical” jazz pianist. But there may be a better adjective for what he and his piano render from a chart of music.
While St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium regularly offers classical, jazz and even folk music, and Thursday’s visit by the Brad Mehldau Trio technically fit into the jazz series, the music might well have been its own sub-genre: “experimental”.
Yes, jazz is, almost by definition, improvisational. But Mehldau, along with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums, where in mostly charted — with sheet music in front of them — but still artistically uncharted territory. With the way Mehldau often closed his eyes and looked off to nowhere, and the way his piano often floated above Grenadier and Ballard’s foundational lines, I would guess that Mehldau’s charts are merely a suggestion.
The trio’s 7-song, roughly 75-minute set featured mostly original tunes, beginning with “Gentle John” — Mehldau’s ode to one-time musical partner John Scofield — and maybe only one jazz standard, Sidney Bechet’s “Si tu vois ma mère” (I think that was the name of the Bechet tune … and the bluesy encore was unidentified from the stage, and may or may not have been a cover.)
My favorite tunes were two originals: “Bel and the Dragon”, which Mehldau said was being debuted at the concert and which felt a little like jazzy space music with the pianist taking several interstellar detours off his charts, as well as “Green M & Ms”, a tune which allowed Ballard to prove that drums can, in fact, be a lead instrument without rattling the ice cubes in one’s drink. (We will not mention the urban legend that green M & Ms are an aphrodisiac, but the music was pretty attractive …)
The bottom line is that, when it comes to innovative musical charts, and uncharted music innovations, Mehldau has few equals in the current jazz scene. And, as the Los Angeles Times wrote in another review, Mehldau is “one of the most adventurous pianists to arrive on the jazz scene in years.”
I could not say it better, so I won’t.
May I have more please?
Knowing my words give short-shift to the artistry of Mehldau, visit here for short YouTube video.
Mehldau, who last performed in Grand Rapids at St. Cecilia in 2010, was the second offering of St. Cecilia’s annual jazz series, which will include singers Gregory Porter on Feb. 22, 2018, and Kurt Elling on March 22, 2018. For information on tickets and more information visit SCMC-online.org.
Mehldau’s jazz trio work is also on my short list of “must-have” jazz trio recordings. For those looking for a deeper dive into the format, an essential acquisition would be the Oscar Peterson Trio’s 1963 recording “Night Train”, the Ahmad Jamahl Trio’s 1958 recording “But Not For Me – At The Pershing” and/or Mehldau’s “The Art of the Trio” series, re-packaged and re-released as a 5-Disc box set by Nonesuch in 2011.
And you probably have to look no farther than Grandville’s The Corner Record Shop for any of them.
Speaking of local jazz, visit here for an interview with, and video of, a local jazz trio at work.
