Tag Archives: bradmehldau
Masabumi Kikuchi: Hanamichi (The Final Studio Recording Vol. II)
How does the well-taught, technically-sound pianist develop his or her voice? Keith Jarrett reportedly took some inspiration from his brother Chris’s teenage assaults on the piano (‘I remember hearing him play some things that affected me greatly. They were highly charged – a direct product, he tells me, of his crises at the time. He […]
Book Review: Formation (Building A Personal Canon Part One) by Brad Mehldau
There’s a history of controversial jazz autobiographies that would have to include Mezz Mezzrow’s ‘Really The Blues’, Charles Mingus’s ‘Beneath The Underdog’, Sidney Bechet’s ‘Treat It Gentle’, Billie Holiday’s ‘Lady Sings The Blues’, Dizzy Gillespie’s ‘Dizzy’ and Art Pepper’s ‘Straight Life’. It may be somewhat of a surprise to report that the apparently mild-mannered, urbane […]
Album Review: Solo Live by Edward Simon
It’s somewhat surprising that Solo Live is Venezualan pianist Edward Simon’s first unaccompanied recording, after a stellar 30-year career in the bands of Greg Osby, Kevin Eubanks, Bobby Watson and Terence Blanchard, and 15 albums as leader. It’s also a testament to the format’s challenges – not all pianists relish having to be the whole […]
Album Review: Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian’s Live At Birdland
The ECM label has always prided itself on the sonic detail of its recordings, but Lee Konitz’s Live At Birdland may be its most impressive technical achievement yet. Birdland is a very small jazz club in Midtown Manhattan, famous for its dry acoustics and intimate setting, yet a tantalising, almost ethereal gloss lingers around every […]
Sounds Of Surprise 