Brad Mehldau Trio – Ode (2012)

As I previously said not only once, I’m not an expert in Jazz, but honestly, I’m so-so-so-so bored in most of the Rock/Metal, eventually so-called Rock/Metal (mandatory “core”) bands, that Jazz sometimes offers me the only reliable refugee.
Born Bradford Alexander Mehldau in 1970 in Jacksonville, Florida, Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. He attended William H. Hall High School in West Hartford and participated in Hall’s prestigious jazz program. While a sophomore in high school, he won Berklee College’s Best All-Around Musician Award. Mehldau moved to New York in 1988 to study jazz at The New School, studying under Fred Hersch, Junior Mance and Kenny Werner. He played as sideman with a variety of musicians, most importantly with the Joshua Redman quartet, before forming his own trio in 1994, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, and later Jeff Ballard, who succeeded Rossy in 2005. In addition to his trio work, Mehldau collaborated with guitarist Pat Metheny, releasing two albums with him and embarking on a worldwide tour along with Grenadier and Ballard.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_4fiMIxO2E&w=545&h=399]

He has also performed with many renowned artists, including Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brian Blade, Jimmy Cobb, classical vocalists Renée Fleming and Anne Sofie von Otter, and singer-songwriters Chris Thile and John Mayer.
“Ode” represents Mehldau’s first set of entirely original compositions for trio since 2005.
The two sides of Mehldau’s personality—the improviser and the formalist—play off each other, and the effect is often something like controlled chaos. Mehldau favors juxtaposing extremes. “Ode” is a smooth and complex ride of this two extremes, but Mehldau and his band mates manage to guide the listener through this sonar journey extremely joyfully.
Once you will push play it will be impossible to push the stop button.

Tracklist:
01 – M.B.
02 – Ode
03 – 26
04 – Dream Sketch
05 – Bee Blues
06 – Twiggy
07 – Kurt Vibe
08 – Stan The Man
09 – Wyatt’s Eulogy For George Hanson
10 – Aquaman
11 – Days Of Dilbert Delaney

Brad Mehldau – Official Site