Brad Mehldau Places CD

Personnel: Brad Mehldau (piano); Larry Grenadier (bass); Jorge Rossy (drums).
Recorded at Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, California on January 24 & 25 and March 24 & 25, 2000. Includes liner notes by Brad Mehldau.
Personnel: Brad Mehldau (piano); Jorge Rossy (drums).
Recording information: Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, CA (01/24/2000-03/25/2000).
Brad Mehldau is becoming a more interesting, more thought-provoking, more individualistic musician with each release -- breaking away from the same old models, finding new ones to integrate into his own personality. The 11 compositions on this CD were conceived on the road, and only midway through did Mehldau realize that they developed similar ideas. Which indeed they do, seizing upon repeated riffing and vamps that Keith Jarrett has explored and sending them in cogent directions. The designated theme is travel; each selection bears the name of a place or mood, and the catchy, contemplative "Los Angeles" serves as the album's bookends, as well as a solo pit stop in the center. Like Elegiac Cycle, Places works like a song cycle; a unified, beautifully proportioned conception, with lots of rambunctious, swinging outbreaks amidst the contemplation. The titles in themselves mean nothing as far as the content of the music is concerned -- or so he writes in another lengthy, provocative liner note. Rather, the album is about the constancy of his personality and musical language, taking all of your personal mental baggage with you wherever you travel. This is an important album, one that anyone interested in piano jazz ought to check out. ~ Richard S. GinellEntertainment Weekly (9/15/00, p.79) - "...Moving, moody originals honor cities and transition zones....his compelling blend of lyricism and muscularity affirms his role as a gentle giant of jazz piano." - Rating: A
Q (11/00, p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...It's a romantic, saturated style informed by numerous classical composers; and his group operates with the kind of inner communication that makes the piano trio such a special format..."
CMJ (9/25/00, p.30) - "...A musical travelogue....a complex dose of melodicism that is aggressive, elegant and poignant."
JazzTimes (12/00, p.101) - "...Has much of the same mix of longing and belonging as Keith Jarrett's mid-'70s recordings....swaying between the rhapsodic and broodingly introspective..."