Brad Mehldau’s Variations on a Melancholy Theme is due June 11, 2021, on Nonesuch. The recording features the pianist/composer and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which commissioned this orchestral version of the work—a theme and eleven variations plus a cadenza and postlude. The album also includes an encore, “Variations ‘X’ and ‘Y.'" "I imagine it as if Brahms woke up one day and had the blues," Mehldau says of the piece, which combines the classical form with jazz harmonies. "While the theme evokes melancholy, I let it be used as a springboard for other happy, wild, violent, and reckless emotions as the variations progress." You can watch a video with excerpts from the piece here.

"I can't overstate the tremendous beauty and mastery glimmering here," says Simon Rentner, host of WGBO's The Checkout, about Brad Mehldau's new album, Suite: April 2020. Mehldau discusses the album, which he wrote while sheltering at home with his family and recorded during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with WBGO's Nate Chinen on the latest episode of the show, which you can hear here.

Brad Mehldau gave a special solo performance without an audience in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw as part of its Empty Concertgebouw Sessions. He performed five pieces from his new album, Suite: April 2020, followed by John Coltrane's "Satellite" and Van Heusen/Burke's "Here’s That Rainy Day." You can watch the session here.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards: David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway for Best Musical Theater Album; Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade's RoundAgain for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Redman for Best Improvised Jazz Solo on the track "Moe Honk"; Pat Metheny's "From This Place" for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals; and Dan Auerbach for Producer of the Year.

Brad Mehldau's new album, Suite: April 2020, is now available on CD and standard vinyl, following the release of the digital and limited-edition deluxe vinyl editions earlier this year. While sheltering at home with his family in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, Mehldau wrote twelve new songs about what he was experiencing; he was able to record them safely in an Amsterdam studio, along with interpretations of three tunes that mean a great deal to him. One thousand numbered and signed copies of the deluxe edition were sold, with a minimum of $90 from each sale donated to the Jazz Foundation of America’s COVID-19 Musician’s Emergency Fund. Brad Mehldau has several solo concerts in Europe ahead.

NPR Music and Jazz Night in America debuted an hour-long set from shows Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade played at The Falcon in Marlboro, NY, just before recording their new album, RoundAgain, last September. The premiere event on Wednesday also included a live Q&A with the musicians and NPR Music's Nate Chinen. You can watch both again here.

Congratulations to Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade, whose new album, RoundAgain, debuted at No. 1 on the Current Traditional Jazz Albums chart in the US and at No. 1 on the Jazz & Blues chart in the UK. The album has also debuted in the Top 100 of the Current Albums chart in the US and in the Top 10 of the overall albums chart in Switzerland and Top 100 of the same in Germany, Belgium, and Japan. Tune in this Wednesday to join the musicians for the premiere of an hour-long set from last September via NPR Music and Jazz Night in America, plus a live Q&A.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman (saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with RoundAgain, the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing, out now. "A flawless effort," exclaims NPR. "Each one of them is at the very top of his game now." On July 22, NPR Music and Jazz Night In America will host a live chat and video stream of a rare performance by Redman, Mehldau, McBride, and Blade from last fall; the musicians will join Nate Chinen to discuss the gig and RoundAgain.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade—who reunite for the upcoming album RoundAgain, met up for a conversation about the project, their first recording together since 1994’s MoodSwing. They shared stories from their long history together while at the Falcon in upstate New York for a performance last fall. You can watch the conversation here, along with previously released performances of two RoundAgain tracks from the concert.

While sheltering at home with his family during the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, pianist and composer Brad Mehldau wrote twelve new songs about what he was experiencing; he was able to record them safely in a studio, together with interpretations of three tunes that mean a great deal to him personally. The resulting album, Suite: April 2020, is available now as a limited-edition deluxe 180-gram vinyl LP. One thousand numbered and signed copies are available for $100 exclusively from the Nonesuch Store, Bandcamp, and Discogs; a minimum of $90 from each sale will be donated to the Jazz Foundation of America’s COVID-19 Musician’s Emergency Fund (after distribution fees). Suite: April 2020 is also available digitally today, with CD and standard vinyl editions due September 18; a portion of their sales also will benefit JFA’s Fund. A video for the album track “remembering before all this,” with an introduction by Mehldau, is available here.

I Still Play, an album of eleven new solo piano compositions written by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, is now available. 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. This "all-star collection" (Financial Times) 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. A new video of Andres performing his own piece, "Wise Words," on which you can follow along in the score, is also available here.

Brad Mehldau was on The WTF Bach Podcast to talk with host Evan Shinners about a range of topics, not least Bach. Mehldau is "one of the foremost pianists alive," says host Evan Shinners. "He is without doubt, one of the most influential, one of the most imitated, and certainly one of the most unique musicians around. And I could spend as much time speaking about his accomplishments, his merits as I did talking to him, but I won't because our conversation is much more interesting." You can hear that conversation here.