Brad Mehldau

Submitted by nonesuch on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 19:06
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Mehldau
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Biography (Excerpt)

Brad Mehldau’s live solo album Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles features interpretations of nine songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one by George Harrison. Although other Beatles songs have long been staples of Mehldau’s shows, he had not previously recorded any of these tunes. The album, recorded in September 2020 at Philharmonie de Paris, ends with a David Bowie classic that draws a connection between The Beatles and pop songwriters who followed.

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Facebook URL
https://www.facebook.com/BradMehldau
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/bradmehldau
Youtube URL
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6DDE26AB3466DDA8

Brad Mehldau's Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles is due February 10, 2023, on Nonesuch Records. The live solo album features the pianist and composer’s interpretations of nine songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one by George Harrison. Although other Beatles songs have long been staples of Mehldau’s solo and trio shows, he had not previously recorded any of the tunes on Your Mother Should Know. The album ends with a David Bowie classic that draws a connection between The Beatles and pop songwriters who followed. Your Mother Should Know was recorded in September 2020 at Philharmonie de Paris.

A live performance video of the title track, recorded at New York City’s legendary Village Vanguard, may be seen here:

Here the performance is preceded by an introduction by the pianist:

“There is an undisputed universality to The Beatles,” Mehldau says. “Their music cuts across cultural and generational lines, as new listeners continue to discover it. There is an immediacy and integrity to their songs that draws everyone in.

“When I was getting started at the instrument, The Beatles were not on my radar yet, but a lot of the enduring piano-pop music I heard on the radio grew out of them. That music became part of my personality, and when I discovered The Beatles later, it all tied together. Their music, and its wide influence on other artists, continues to inform what I do.”

Mehldau further considers, “In his book The Western Canon, Harold Bloom confronted the question of what makes particular books endure: ‘The answer, more often than not, has turned out to be strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange.’

“If we look at The Beatles and the multitude of artists who have been influenced by one or another facet of their oeuvre, this paradoxical recipe for longevity is one way to consider their ongoing footprint,” Mehldau continues. “For there is a good deal of strangeness to much of their music, particularly in the series of game-changing albums that begin with Rubber Soul through the release of their final record, Let It Be.”

Brad Mehldau’s Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo. His subsequent eighteen releases on the label include six records with his trio as well as collaborative and solo albums. His most recent releases are a pair of recordings with the original 1990s Joshua Redman Quartet, RoundAgain (2020) and LongGone (2022); Variations on a Melancholy Theme (2021), commissioned by and recorded with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; a solo album he recorded during COVID-19 lockdown, Suite: April 2020; and 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. On March 15, 2023, Equinox Publishing will publish Mehldau’s memoir Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part I, 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

  • June 16, 2023

    To mark the 20th anniversary of Brad Mehldau’s acclaimed Jon Brion–produced album Largo comes its first-ever vinyl release, in a two-LP black vinyl edition. Mehldau experiments with electronic instrumentation on this set of original and borrowed tunes, including Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” "Gorgeous and brilliant,” raved the Boston Globe. “Mehldau has crafted a new-jazz soundscape that bursts with pop smarts."

Releases

News

  • September 12, 2023

    The line-up for the 2024 Big Ears Festival—taking place in downtown Knoxville, TN, March 21–24—has been announced, including more than a dozen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future, in celebration of the label’s 60th anniversary in 2024: Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Tyondai Braxton, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Brad Mehldau, Ringdown (Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee), Davóne Tines, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and Yasmin Williams.

  • July 6, 2023

    The nominations for the Edison Klassiek and Jazz Awards in the Netherlands have been announced, including four Nonesuch recordings: Julia Bullock’s Walking in the Dark for Solo Vocal in the Klassiek awards; Mary Halvorson’s Belladonna and Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade’s LongGone for Jazz International Instrumental; and Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Mélusine for Jazz International Vocal—the award she won last year for her Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song.

Tour

Sun, Oct 15
Hlavní Město Praha,
Rudolfinum Dvořák Hall
Sun, Oct 15
Hlavní Město Praha,
Rudolfinum Dvořák Hall
Wed, Nov 08
Los Angeles, CA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Wed, Nov 08
Los Angeles, CA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Sat, Nov 11
Berkeley, CA
Zellerbach Hall
Sat, Nov 11
Berkeley, CA
Zellerbach Hall
Fri, Nov 17
Chicago, IL
Symphony Center
Fri, Nov 17
Chicago, IL
Symphony Center
Sat, Jan 27
Toronto, ON
Koerner Hall
Sat, Jan 27
Toronto, ON
Koerner Hall
Wed, Jan 31
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall
Wed, Jan 31
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall
Sat, Feb 10
Berkeley, CA
Zellerbach Hall
Sat, Feb 10
Berkeley, CA
Zellerbach Hall
Thu, Mar 21
Knoxville, TN
Thu, Mar 21
Knoxville, TN

Photos

About Brad Mehldau

  • Brad Mehldau's Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles is due February 10, 2023, on Nonesuch Records. The live solo album features the pianist and composer’s interpretations of nine songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one by George Harrison. Although other Beatles songs have long been staples of Mehldau’s solo and trio shows, he had not previously recorded any of the tunes on Your Mother Should Know. The album ends with a David Bowie classic that draws a connection between The Beatles and pop songwriters who followed. Your Mother Should Know was recorded in September 2020 at Philharmonie de Paris.

    A live performance video of the title track, recorded at New York City’s legendary Village Vanguard, may be seen here:

    Here the performance is preceded by an introduction by the pianist:

    “There is an undisputed universality to The Beatles,” Mehldau says. “Their music cuts across cultural and generational lines, as new listeners continue to discover it. There is an immediacy and integrity to their songs that draws everyone in.

    “When I was getting started at the instrument, The Beatles were not on my radar yet, but a lot of the enduring piano-pop music I heard on the radio grew out of them. That music became part of my personality, and when I discovered The Beatles later, it all tied together. Their music, and its wide influence on other artists, continues to inform what I do.”

    Mehldau further considers, “In his book The Western Canon, Harold Bloom confronted the question of what makes particular books endure: ‘The answer, more often than not, has turned out to be strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange.’

    “If we look at The Beatles and the multitude of artists who have been influenced by one or another facet of their oeuvre, this paradoxical recipe for longevity is one way to consider their ongoing footprint,” Mehldau continues. “For there is a good deal of strangeness to much of their music, particularly in the series of game-changing albums that begin with Rubber Soul through the release of their final record, Let It Be.”

    Brad Mehldau’s Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo. His subsequent eighteen releases on the label include six records with his trio as well as collaborative and solo albums. His most recent releases are a pair of recordings with the original 1990s Joshua Redman Quartet, RoundAgain (2020) and LongGone (2022); Variations on a Melancholy Theme (2021), commissioned by and recorded with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; a solo album he recorded during COVID-19 lockdown, Suite: April 2020; and 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. On March 15, 2023, Equinox Publishing will publish Mehldau’s memoir Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part I, a rare look inside the mind of an artist at the top of his field, in his own words.