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Architect of the moment: Brad Mehldau

Blog
Architect of the moment: Brad Mehldau

13.09.2024

Text: Eylül Ege - Illustration: Naz Tansel

Architect of the moment: Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau has been creating wonders since the 1990s by blending elements of jazz with classical music, pop, rock, progressive, electronic, and many other genres. With his signature style featuring unusual rhythms and improvisational counterpoints, and his competence in both writing and playing, he is one of the best pianists of our time. Brad Mehldau is visiting Istanbul for the 34th Akbank Jazz Festival to perform at Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall on October 12 with his trio, accompanied by bassist Felix Moseholm and drummer Jorge Rossi. Before Mehldau’s performance, we have compiled the highlights of the musician’s career and life.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Brad Mehldau spent his childhood in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, playing piano at home and listening to pop and rock on the radio. At 10, his piano teacher in West Hartford introduced him to classical music, and by 14, he discovered jazz through the recordings of John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson. Keith Jarrett's Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne expanded his understanding of the piano's potential.

During high school, Mehldau played with the school jazz band, performed at various special events such as weddings and parties, and composed solo pieces for the piano. He took the stage weekly at a local club with these pieces and after graduating, he moved to New York and enrolled in the department of jazz and contemporary music at The New School. Even before turning 20, he was playing in the band of his teacher, drummer Jimmy Cobb with guitarist Peter Bernstein. From 1992 onwards, he toured extensively with his own trio while accompanying saxophonists like Perico Sambeat and Joshua Redman. After graduation, he released two albums with Warner Bros. By the mid-90s, he was already recognized as one of the jazz stars of the era.

Behind the scenes of his glamorous stage life, Mehldau says that when he moved to Los Angeles in his 20s to pursue a more organized lifestyle, a wave of creativity emerged which he could actually control. His 1998 album, Songs: The Art of the Trio Volume Three, featuring his originals, jazz standards, and covers of Nick Drake's “River Man” and Radiohead's “Exit Music”, attracted significant attention for its harmonic richness. He then began performing at international jazz festivals like Montreal, Montreux, and Rotterdam.

A summer in Germany led to his first solo LP, Elegiac Cycle, a collection of harmonically rich melodies for solo piano repertoire, reflecting Mehldau’s interest in iconic composers of 19th century German Romanticism such as Brahms, Schubert, and Schumann.

His collaboration with Wayne Shorter on Alegría brought him a Grammy in the 2000s. Largo, his most popular album, produced by Jon Brion followed with a blend of rock, classical music and electronic experiments.

In addition to his acoustic projects, Brad Mehldau’s musical journey has also included a duo project with drummer Mark Guiliana, known as Mehliana, in which they experimented with synth-oriented music. They were later joined by guitarist John Scofield, and in 2022, he released the exquisite album Jacob's Ladder, inspired by the progressive rock sounds from his childhood and his search for spiritual meaning, incorporating influences from Rush, Gentle Giant, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Miles Davis, Weather Report, and Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Brad Mehldau, a true laborer in music, has performed around the world in cities like Tokyo, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Athens. He collaborated with talented instrumentalists, singers, and ensembles such as Renée Fleming, Pat Metheny, Anne Sofie von Otter, Chris Thile, New York's Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and many others. He has recorded and released many of his live performances, and with his work spanning a wide range of genres from the past to the present, he has already created a very special archive to his listeners and music lovers.

Did you know that the myth of Orpheus inspired Mehldau's understanding of music? According to the myth, after the death of his beloved Eurydice, an oak nymph, Orpheus plays the lyre to the gods to get her back. Hades agrees, but with one condition: Orpheus must not look at her until she emerges from the underworld. However, Orpheus cannot control the urge, looks back at the last moment and loses her forever. Mehldau believes that this moment of looking is exactly what music embodies. “Music connects the sense of accomplishment and loss simultaneously,” he says.

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