Brad Mehldau

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Biography (Excerpt)

Brad Mehldau’s After Bach II and Après Fauré were released May 10. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. Here Mehldau’s four compositions that Fauré inspired are presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works.

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Brad Mehldau’s After Bach II and Après Fauré were released May 10, 2024, on Nonesuch Records. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. Here Mehldau’s four compositions that Fauré inspired are presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works. You can get and listen to After Bach II here and Après Fauré here. You can take a quick look inside both CDs here:


Mehldau, speaking of the “universality” of Bach’s music, says in his liner note: “The more you try to engage with him, the more your own personality becomes visible, unavoidably. You are not playing Bach—Bach is playing you, in the sense that he lays you bare ... The greatest choice you make at all times is not out of an absence, but from what is there, in its totality. Specifically, it is the constant choice you make in how to negotiate between harmony and melody.”


He continues, “This is why Bach is a model for me as a jazz musician. In my improvised solos, I want to make melodic phrases that carry harmonic implication, and create harmony that moves in a melodic fashion. This is a crucial component in the storytelling.” After Bach II follows 2018’s After Bach album, which originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach. Two of Mehldau’s compositions from that program were presented on the After Bach album; his virtuosic third piece, Toccata, is included on After Bach II.

Discussing the Après Fauré album in his note, Mehldau says: “If the sublime foreshadows our mortality, this music might communicate the austerity of death—Fauré’s as it approached him, but also the apprehension of our own. We find a kinship with the composer finally, in the form of a question that he tossed off into the future, to us. I have composed four pieces to accompany Fauré’s music here, to share the way I have engaged with Fauré’s question, with you, the listener.”


“This format is similar to my After Bach project,” he continues. “The connections are less overt, but Fauré’s harmonic imprint is on all four. There is also a textural influence, in terms of how he presented his musical material pianistically—he exploited the instrument’s sonority masterfully, as an expressive means. So, for example, in my first ‘Prelude,’ melody is welded to a continuous arpeggiation, both part of it and hovering above it; in my ‘Nocturne,’ it is possible to hear the harkening chordal approach in the opening of Fauré’s No. 12.”

Brad Mehldau’s Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo. His subsequent nineteen releases on the label include six records with his trio as well as collaborative and solo albums. His most recent releases are a solo album he recorded during COVID-19 lockdown, Suite: April 2020; Jacob’s Ladder (2022), which featured music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music and was inspired by the prog rock Mehldau loved as a young adolescent; and Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles (2023), a live solo album featuring the pianist and composer’s interpretations of nine songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one by George Harrison. Mehldau’s memoir, Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part I, also was published in 2023, offering a rare look inside the mind of an artist at the top of his field, in his own words. 

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Latest Release

  • May 10, 2024

    On Après Fauré, Brad Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor, along with four of Mehldau’s compositions that Fauré inspired presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works.

Releases

News

  • April 21, 2025

    Congratulations to Darcy James Argue, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Ambrose Akinmusire, Mary Halvorson, and Brad Mehldau on their JJA Jazz Association's 2025 JJA Jazz Awards nominations: Argue for Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year, which he won last year, and, with Secret Society, Large Ensemble of the Year; Salvant for Female Vocalist of the Year, which she won last year, and, with pianist Sullivan Fortner Duo of the Year; Akinmusire for Trumpeter of the Year, which he won last year; Halvorson for Guitarist of the Year, which she won last year; and Mehldau for Pianist of the Year.

  • December 9, 2024

    When Brad Mehldau and his Trio—Felix Moseholm on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums—performed at the Nancy Opera in France for the Nancy Jazz Pulsations festival this past October, ARTE was there to capture the concert. You can now watch it here. "Brad Mehldau is without a doubt one of the most influential jazz pianists of recent decades," ARTE says. "What makes Brad Mehldau truly unique is his playing, constantly constructed in contrapuntal mode, where his hands engage in intimate dialogues or engage in passionate exchanges."

Tour

Wed, Apr 23
New York, NY
Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY
Wed, Apr 23
New York, NY
Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY
Tue, May 06
Tsuen Wan,
Tsuen Wan Town Hall
Tue, May 06
Tsuen Wan,
Tsuen Wan Town Hall
Thu, May 08
Tokyo,
Tokyo Opera City Hall
Thu, May 08
Tokyo,
Tokyo Opera City Hall
Fri, May 09
Tokyo,
Kioi Hall
Fri, May 09
Tokyo,
Kioi Hall
Sat, May 10
Tokyo,
Kioi Hall
Sat, May 10
Tokyo,
Kioi Hall
Sun, May 11
Tokyo,
Suntory Hall
Sun, May 11
Tokyo,
Suntory Hall
Tue, May 13
Osaka,
Sankei Hall Breeze
Tue, May 13
Osaka,
Sankei Hall Breeze
Tue, May 20
Seoul,
GS Arts Center
Tue, May 20
Seoul,
GS Arts Center
Sat, Jun 14
Berlin,
Haus des Rundfunks
Sat, Jun 14
Berlin,
Haus des Rundfunks
Wed, Jun 18
Vienna,
Wiener Konzerthaus
Wed, Jun 18
Vienna,
Wiener Konzerthaus

Photos

About Brad Mehldau

  • Brad Mehldau’s After Bach II and Après Fauré were released May 10, 2024, on Nonesuch Records. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. Here Mehldau’s four compositions that Fauré inspired are presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works. You can get and listen to After Bach II here and Après Fauré here. You can take a quick look inside both CDs here:


    Mehldau, speaking of the “universality” of Bach’s music, says in his liner note: “The more you try to engage with him, the more your own personality becomes visible, unavoidably. You are not playing Bach—Bach is playing you, in the sense that he lays you bare ... The greatest choice you make at all times is not out of an absence, but from what is there, in its totality. Specifically, it is the constant choice you make in how to negotiate between harmony and melody.”


    He continues, “This is why Bach is a model for me as a jazz musician. In my improvised solos, I want to make melodic phrases that carry harmonic implication, and create harmony that moves in a melodic fashion. This is a crucial component in the storytelling.” After Bach II follows 2018’s After Bach album, which originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach. Two of Mehldau’s compositions from that program were presented on the After Bach album; his virtuosic third piece, Toccata, is included on After Bach II.

    Discussing the Après Fauré album in his note, Mehldau says: “If the sublime foreshadows our mortality, this music might communicate the austerity of death—Fauré’s as it approached him, but also the apprehension of our own. We find a kinship with the composer finally, in the form of a question that he tossed off into the future, to us. I have composed four pieces to accompany Fauré’s music here, to share the way I have engaged with Fauré’s question, with you, the listener.”


    “This format is similar to my After Bach project,” he continues. “The connections are less overt, but Fauré’s harmonic imprint is on all four. There is also a textural influence, in terms of how he presented his musical material pianistically—he exploited the instrument’s sonority masterfully, as an expressive means. So, for example, in my first ‘Prelude,’ melody is welded to a continuous arpeggiation, both part of it and hovering above it; in my ‘Nocturne,’ it is possible to hear the harkening chordal approach in the opening of Fauré’s No. 12.”

    Brad Mehldau’s Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo. His subsequent nineteen releases on the label include six records with his trio as well as collaborative and solo albums. His most recent releases are a solo album he recorded during COVID-19 lockdown, Suite: April 2020; Jacob’s Ladder (2022), which featured music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music and was inspired by the prog rock Mehldau loved as a young adolescent; and Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles (2023), a live solo album featuring the pianist and composer’s interpretations of nine songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one by George Harrison. Mehldau’s memoir, Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part I, also was published in 2023, offering a rare look inside the mind of an artist at the top of his field, in his own words.