Blues and Ballads by Brad Mehldau Trio, review by John McBeath
This release – the group’s fifth – after the acclaimed album Where Do You Start, in 2012, from US pianist Brad Mehldau features the leader’s preferred format: the piano trio The music explores works by composers from Charlie Parker and Cole Porter to Lennon and McCartney.
It’s a beautifully played, satisfying collection that displays Mehldau’s brilliant ability for subtlety and understatement, ably assisted by long-term associates Larry Grenadier on bass, and Jeff Ballard on drums.
One track that encapsulates the overall mood is Jack Strachey’s WWII ballad These Foolish Things where Mehldau extracts every nuance of nostalgia and emotion from the tune without a trace of cliché.
Cole Porter’s I Concentrate on You flows along in an unhurried but highly expressive way, making use of stating the melody in the bass register.
The Blues are well represented by the opener, pianist Buddy Johnson’s 1945 piece Since I Fell for You with its slow tempo, ten minute work-over of the twelve bar format, while Jon Brion’s sad story Little Person is sensitively interpreted, adding Grenadier’s contemplative bass solo.
The Beatles hit And I Love Her explores the repetitive phrasing of the original before drifting into a highly effective improvisation where extensive treble runs are countered by bass chord foundations, punctuated effectively by Ballard’s kit.
Paul McCartney’s My Valentine, the closer, is taken at about the same slow tempo as the original and in addition to Mehldau’s out-of-tempo passage also features another perceptive solo from Grenadier.
This collection shows Mehldau’s technical virtuosity, playing in a cut down style that gets right into the essential character of these songs.
MUSICIANS
Brad Mehldau, piano
Larry Grenadier, bass
Jeff Ballard, drums
Review originally published by the Australian
