I Still Play

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I Still Play is eleven new solo piano compositions by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, written in honor of the label’s longtime President Bob Hurwitz on the occasion of his 2017 shift into the Chairman Emeritus role. The album features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman, performed by Andres, Mehldau, Newman, and Jeremy Denk.

Description

Nonesuch Records released I Still Play, an album comprising eleven new solo piano compositions written by artists who have recorded for the label, on May 22, 2020. The pieces were written in honor of the label's longtime President Bob Hurwitz on the occasion of his 2017 shift into the Chairman Emeritus role after running the label for thirty-two years. I Still Play features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman. The pieces have been recorded by Andres and fellow Nonesuch artist Jeremy Denk, as well as by Mehldau and Newman themselves.

The pieces were first performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2017, at a concert celebrating Hurwitz's tenure at the label. His longtime friend and colleague, current Nonesuch President David Bither, says, "Bob's great friend John Adams deserves credit for the idea at the core of this recording. I enlisted his help in thinking of how we might honor Bob. A few weeks later he suggested that we ask the composers who had worked so closely with Bob to each write him a new piece of music. An honorable suggestion, but with a twist.

"Bob is a pianist and since he was a child has played virtually every day of his life," Bither continues. "He has said many times that this practice has had a profound influence on how he listens to music. John's suggestion was that each composer write something that was not a concert piece but that an accomplished pianist like Bob might play."

Timo Andres, who recorded the majority of the compositions for this record, says in his liner note, "Each of these eleven tributes to Bob Hurwitz was written for an audience of one, on a particular Steinway in a specific Upper West Side living room. Each distills an aspect of its author's voice to a concentrated miniature. The prevailing tone is conversational rather than declamatory, though it's a wide-ranging conversation. Large questions are posed but rarely answered in full." He adds, "If the listener has the odd feeling of having stumbled into an exchange between two friends and missing an inside joke or shared reference here and there—that's not far from the truth."

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Tracks 1-3, 5, 6, 8, 10
Produced and engineered by Adam Abeshouse
Recorded April 1, 2019 at Westchester Studios, Westchester, NY

Track 4
Produced and engineered by Adam Abeshouse
Recorded March 23, 2017 at Westchester Studios, Westchester, NY

Tracks 7 & 9
Produced by Brad Mehldau
Engineered by Ryan Streber
Recorded July 27, 2019 at Oktaven Audio, Mt. Vernon, NY

Track 11
Produced by Mitchell Froom
Engineered by David Boucher
Recorded May 31, 2019 at Area A, Los Angeles, CA

Album mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland, ME

Design by Barbara de Wilde
Cover and booklet photographs by Michael Wilson
Photograph of Robert Hurwitz by Chad Batka

Executive Producer: David Bither

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Timo Andres
Jeremy Denk
Brad Mehldau
Randy Newman
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Timo Andres, piano
Jeremy Denk, piano
Brad Mehldau, piano
Randy Newman, piano

reissues?
new-release
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
13.00
UPC
075597920826
Slug
i-still-play-cd-mp3-bundle
Label
FLAC
Price
10.00
UPC
075597920840
Slug
i-still-play-digital-flac-album
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597920857
Slug
i-still-play-digital-mp3-album

News & Reviews

  • Brad Mehldau's recent concert at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band conducted and with arrangements by its composer-in-residence Darcy James Argue, can now be seen on ARTE. "Brad Mehldau ranks among the most significant jazz pianists of our time," says ARTE. "One of the most influential pianists of recent decades, Mehldau has garnered a following extending far beyond the jazz world." Argue, whom ARTE says "possesses the ability to propel big-band music into uncharted territory," has has been nominated for the JJA Jazz Award for Arranger of the Year; his arrangements can be heard on Cécile McLorin Salvant's forthcoming orchestral album, With Every Breath I Take.

  • Brad Mehldau has announced four live performances of music from Ride into the Sun, his 2025 songbook record of music by Elliott Smith, this summer: three in California in late August, in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oakland, followed by the Groton Hill Music Center in Massachusetts on September 2. All four performances include singer/mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist John Davis, and drummer Matt Chamberlain, who perform on the album, plus singer/guitarist Blake Mills and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, reprising his album role, here with USC Thornton Chamber Virtuosi in California and A Far Cry chamber orchestra in Groton.

  • About This Album

    Nonesuch Records released I Still Play, an album comprising eleven new solo piano compositions written by artists who have recorded for the label, on May 22, 2020. The pieces were written in honor of the label's longtime President Bob Hurwitz on the occasion of his 2017 shift into the Chairman Emeritus role after running the label for thirty-two years. I Still Play features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman. The pieces have been recorded by Andres and fellow Nonesuch artist Jeremy Denk, as well as by Mehldau and Newman themselves.

    The pieces were first performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2017, at a concert celebrating Hurwitz's tenure at the label. His longtime friend and colleague, current Nonesuch President David Bither, says, "Bob's great friend John Adams deserves credit for the idea at the core of this recording. I enlisted his help in thinking of how we might honor Bob. A few weeks later he suggested that we ask the composers who had worked so closely with Bob to each write him a new piece of music. An honorable suggestion, but with a twist.

    "Bob is a pianist and since he was a child has played virtually every day of his life," Bither continues. "He has said many times that this practice has had a profound influence on how he listens to music. John's suggestion was that each composer write something that was not a concert piece but that an accomplished pianist like Bob might play."

    Timo Andres, who recorded the majority of the compositions for this record, says in his liner note, "Each of these eleven tributes to Bob Hurwitz was written for an audience of one, on a particular Steinway in a specific Upper West Side living room. Each distills an aspect of its author's voice to a concentrated miniature. The prevailing tone is conversational rather than declamatory, though it's a wide-ranging conversation. Large questions are posed but rarely answered in full." He adds, "If the listener has the odd feeling of having stumbled into an exchange between two friends and missing an inside joke or shared reference here and there—that's not far from the truth."

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Timo Andres, piano
    Jeremy Denk, piano
    Brad Mehldau, piano
    Randy Newman, piano

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Tracks 1-3, 5, 6, 8, 10
    Produced and engineered by Adam Abeshouse
    Recorded April 1, 2019 at Westchester Studios, Westchester, NY

    Track 4
    Produced and engineered by Adam Abeshouse
    Recorded March 23, 2017 at Westchester Studios, Westchester, NY

    Tracks 7 & 9
    Produced by Brad Mehldau
    Engineered by Ryan Streber
    Recorded July 27, 2019 at Oktaven Audio, Mt. Vernon, NY

    Track 11
    Produced by Mitchell Froom
    Engineered by David Boucher
    Recorded May 31, 2019 at Area A, Los Angeles, CA

    Album mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland, ME

    Design by Barbara de Wilde
    Cover and booklet photographs by Michael Wilson
    Photograph of Robert Hurwitz by Chad Batka

    Executive Producer: David Bither

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