Brad Mehldau has kicked off the European leg of his fall tour with his Trio, whose performance earlier this week at London's Barbican earned four stars from both The Times (UK) and The Guardian. "From the opening left-hand phrases of Brad Mehldau's 'Dream Sketch,' there wasn't a finger out of place in two hours of music-making," reports The Times. "This was a trio whose members were in perfect accord with one another ... [and] demonstrated a level of telepathic co-operation rare not only in jazz, but music of any sort." Metro concurs, adding: "The Brad Mehldau Trio is the quintessential modern piano outfit."

The 2008 JVC Jazz Festival New York got under way earlier this week and continues through June 28 at venues throughout the City, including Carnegie Hall, where the Brad Mehldau Trio will play this Sunday in Zankel Hall in a program titled "A Taste of Genius," and the Greenwich Village club Le Poisson Rouge, where Bill Frisell's new trio will make its New York debut this Thursday.

The Brad Mehldau Trio's two-disc Live album receives three and a half stars from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It is way cool to follow the flights of pianist Brad Mehldau and his trio on this live two-disc recording," says the Inquirer. "Mehldau proves he can weave a groove as well as anyone. It's satisfying to hear him pick intense lines in some remote corner of a long tune or pile on one note repeatedly, because his rhythmic drive is so strong."

The Brad Mehldau Trio's performance of Oasis's signature song, "Wonderwall," from the Trio's recent two-disc Nonesuch release, Live, is the latest add to the Stereogum "Gum Mix." You can listen to the track in the Mix and download it from stereogum.com/mp3.

The Brad Mehldau Trio is in St. Louis this week for a four-night residency at Jazz at the Bistro starting tonight. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Brad's latest album, the two-cd Live recording from the trio, is "clearly among his best." The Post-Dispatch calls the new collection "a beautifully realized album, by turns lyrical and rambunctious ... As a jazz artist, Mehldau has few peers."

The Brad Mehldau Trio's take on Oasis's "Wonderwall" is NPR's Song of the Day today. The track appears on the Trio's new Live album, on which the musicians "sound unusually lively and exploratory," says NPR. "Live is the finest live recording Mehldau has made. Collected from a series of 2006 concerts, these performances return to what Mehldau and his band do best: conversational improvisation, with idiosyncratic arrangements that rethink the popular songbook."

This week marked the release of the Brad Mehldau Trio's two-disc Live set, recorded during the group's weeklong residency at the Village Vanguard in October 2006; The Guardian (UK) gives four stars to the latest album from this "prodigiously gifted pianist" and his trio, offering what audiences have come to expect from Brad, namely "state-of-the-art contemporary jazz piano."

This Tuesday, the Brad Mehldau Trio will release the two-CD Live album. "It's the trio's increasing open-mindedness that distinguishes Live from its previous live outings," says All About Jazz. "Refined simplicity contrasts with sophisticated complexity while spare economy coexists alongside busier dynamics, making Live another exceptional milestone in a career defined by gradual but unrelenting growth and exploration."

SFJAZZ has announced the line-up for its ninth annual spring season, and the Brad Mehldau Trio is on the bill. The new season, which runs from March 6 through June 20, includes a performance by Brad and his trio on June 6 at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre June 6.