Nearness

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Nearness, the first duo album from longtime friends and collaborators saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau, was recorded live on tour in Europe in 2011. "The pair are so well matched," says BBC Music Magazine in a five-star review. "Both are extraordinary, scintillating improvisers bursting with energy, yet they have great ears for one another." Mojo says: "They create a special telepathic musical synergy in each other’s company."

Description

Nonesuch Records released saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau's Nearness, the longtime friends' and collaborators' first duo album, on September 9, 2016. Nearness, a selection of duets recorded live during their recent European tour, is available now.

Brad Mehldau first came to prominence as a member Joshua Redman's quartet in the 1990s before becoming a bandleader himself. The pair first reunited in 2010 when Redman was featured on Mehldau's album Highway Rider. In 2013, Mehldau was featured as a performer and producer on Redman's Walking Shadows.

"It's like one of those friendships where you don't see someone for a long stretch and then you fall right back where you left off," Mehldau told the Ottawa Citizen when he and Redman performed at the city's jazz festival in 2011. According to the Citizen's Peter Hum, these two friends are "among the most potent and influential jazz instrumentalists of their generation, and what Mehldau calls 'picking up' is in fact world-class improvising before rapt audiences."

Each artist has recorded extensively for Nonesuch, with a wide variety of collaborators. Brad Mehldau's label debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo and includes six records with his trio: House on Hill, Day Is Done, Brad Mehldau Trio Live, Ode, Where Do You Start, and Blues and Ballads. His collaborative records on the label include Love Sublime, Highway Rider, Metheny Mehldau, Metheny Mehldau Quartet, Modern Music, and Mehliana: Taming the Dragon. Mehldau's additional solo albums on Nonesuch include Live in Marciac and last year's 8-LP/4-CD 10 Years Solo Live, which the New York Times says "contains some of the most impressive pianism he has captured on record."

Joshua Redman's first album on Nonesuch was the Grammy-nominated Momentum, released in 2005. His other releases on the label include Back East, Compass, and Trios Live, all of which explore the trio format; MoodSwing, originally released in 1994 with Redman's own band, including Mehldau, and re-released by Nonesuch in 2009; Walking Shadows, his first recording to include an orchestral ensemble, from 2013; and The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, his 2015 collaboration with the acclaimed trio, which the New York Times called "a knockout" and NPR called "a roaring and beautiful summit meeting." In 2004, he was a founder of the SFJAZZ Collective, an eight-piece, multi-generational ensemble of accomplished musicians. Since 2009, Redman has been performing with a new collaborative group called James Farm, whose members also include pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. The group has two releases on Nonesuch; their self-titled album from 2011, and City Folk, released in 2014.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau
Recorded and Mixed by Paul Boothe
Track 1 recorded November 12, 2011, at Teatro Fernán Gómez, Madrid, Spain
Track 2 recorded November 16, 2011, at Kultur Casino, Bern, Switzerland
Track 3 recorded November 14, 2011, at De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands
Track 4 recorded November 24, 2011 at Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Track 5 recorded November 23, 2011 at Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Track 6 recorded July 7, 2011 at Kongsberg Church, Kongsberg, Norway
Edited by Brian Montgomery
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Design by John Gall
Photography by Michael Wilson

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Nonesuch Selection Number

555845

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Joshua Redman
Brad Mehldau
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Joshua Redman, saxophone
Brad Mehldau, piano

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
LP+MP3
UPC
075597945546
Label
96/24 HD FLAC
Price
16.00
UPC
075597945584
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597945539
Label
FLAC
Price
11.00
UPC
075597945553
Label
MP3
Price
10.00
UPC
075597945591
  • 555845

News & Reviews

  • Brad Mehldau has shared new videos filmed at the Village Vanguard in New York City in which he discusses and performs from his latest albums, After Bach II and Après Fauré, which were released on Nonesuch this past May. On the former, he performs some improvised variations on Bach's Goldberg theme, as he does on After Bach II, and on the latter, he discusses the impact of Fauré's final nocturne, no. 13, and performs his own piece Après Fauré No. 4: Vision. You can watch both here.

  • In celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, an extremely limited quantity of 100 box sets containing newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, out now. You can take a quick look inside here. Designed by the Grammy-winning team at SMOG Design, each box comprises twenty 12" x 12" prints, numbered and signed by the photographer. Artists featured are Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres, who wrote a note for the box.

  • About This Album

    Nonesuch Records released saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau's Nearness, the longtime friends' and collaborators' first duo album, on September 9, 2016. Nearness, a selection of duets recorded live during their recent European tour, is available now.

    Brad Mehldau first came to prominence as a member Joshua Redman's quartet in the 1990s before becoming a bandleader himself. The pair first reunited in 2010 when Redman was featured on Mehldau's album Highway Rider. In 2013, Mehldau was featured as a performer and producer on Redman's Walking Shadows.

    "It's like one of those friendships where you don't see someone for a long stretch and then you fall right back where you left off," Mehldau told the Ottawa Citizen when he and Redman performed at the city's jazz festival in 2011. According to the Citizen's Peter Hum, these two friends are "among the most potent and influential jazz instrumentalists of their generation, and what Mehldau calls 'picking up' is in fact world-class improvising before rapt audiences."

    Each artist has recorded extensively for Nonesuch, with a wide variety of collaborators. Brad Mehldau's label debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo and includes six records with his trio: House on Hill, Day Is Done, Brad Mehldau Trio Live, Ode, Where Do You Start, and Blues and Ballads. His collaborative records on the label include Love Sublime, Highway Rider, Metheny Mehldau, Metheny Mehldau Quartet, Modern Music, and Mehliana: Taming the Dragon. Mehldau's additional solo albums on Nonesuch include Live in Marciac and last year's 8-LP/4-CD 10 Years Solo Live, which the New York Times says "contains some of the most impressive pianism he has captured on record."

    Joshua Redman's first album on Nonesuch was the Grammy-nominated Momentum, released in 2005. His other releases on the label include Back East, Compass, and Trios Live, all of which explore the trio format; MoodSwing, originally released in 1994 with Redman's own band, including Mehldau, and re-released by Nonesuch in 2009; Walking Shadows, his first recording to include an orchestral ensemble, from 2013; and The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, his 2015 collaboration with the acclaimed trio, which the New York Times called "a knockout" and NPR called "a roaring and beautiful summit meeting." In 2004, he was a founder of the SFJAZZ Collective, an eight-piece, multi-generational ensemble of accomplished musicians. Since 2009, Redman has been performing with a new collaborative group called James Farm, whose members also include pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. The group has two releases on Nonesuch; their self-titled album from 2011, and City Folk, released in 2014.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Joshua Redman, saxophone
    Brad Mehldau, piano

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau
    Recorded and Mixed by Paul Boothe
    Track 1 recorded November 12, 2011, at Teatro Fernán Gómez, Madrid, Spain
    Track 2 recorded November 16, 2011, at Kultur Casino, Bern, Switzerland
    Track 3 recorded November 14, 2011, at De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands
    Track 4 recorded November 24, 2011 at Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Track 5 recorded November 23, 2011 at Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
    Track 6 recorded July 7, 2011 at Kongsberg Church, Kongsberg, Norway
    Edited by Brian Montgomery
    Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

    Design by John Gall
    Photography by Michael Wilson

    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

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