Customer Reviews

Songs: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you haven't heard of Brad Mehldau yet, this recording will certainly convince you that he is far more then a passing fancy. This pianist posseses incredible technical skills, but he manages to always let feeling prevail. This is not your average jazz trio either, bassist Larry Genadier and drummer Jorge Rossy supply him with different textures,and rhythms that are swinging and intellectual all at once. This trio is groundbreaking and I am sure will be looked back upon as trendsetters years from now.My favorite track on this Album is Mehldau's original "Unrequited", (of which he recently recorded another breathtaking version with Portuguese lyrics on his -Art of the duo- recording "Close Enough for Love" with vocalist Fleurine on Verve) which clearly demonstrates this approach. But there are some great treatments of standards on this one aswell.If you are getting your first Mehldau album this is a great way to start, it is more laid back then his two (fantastic!)'Live at the Vanguard' recordings. One of the most exciting jazzalbums I've heard in a long time.

Woe unto Perth for single-handedly lowering this magnificent album's rating to four measley stars. It is doubly unfortunate because the first purchase of an artist for most people tends not to be something entitled "Volume 3." So here you have a tremendously lyrical, imaginative, melodic album with covers of everyone from Hart to Radiohead, and some people are not going to buy it because it "only" has 4 stars and because it's not Volume 1. Instead, they will opt for something like Elegiac Cycles which, while great, leaves one thinking that Brad is in dire need of Prozac. Fully spent from listening to it, they may not want to buy another Mehldau album for some time. What a shame, because there can be no better introduction to this incredibly gifted artist than Art of the Song.

I am a classically trained musician. I went to an excellent music school that also had one of the best jazz programs in the nation, run by Jackie McLean. I heard some good jazz while I was there. But frankly the old classical musician's put-down, saying that something was "good enough for jazz," more often than not rang true for me. There didn't seem to be a truly sophisticated and solid grounding in structure and harmony in most jazz that I heard. The premium was on improvisation, to the seeming detriment of coherence. Jazz seemed more amorphous and haphazard than not.

But Brad Mehldau was a complete revelation for me. Structure and improvisation, freedom and discipline all coexisting together, all combining into an unbelievable organic whole that simply must be experienced to be fully appreciated. This is music making at its highest. Listening to Brad Mehldau for me is like listening to what Bach might have done if he had been a jazz musician. Brad plays from his heart and his soul, and yet his playing always has an overarching structure that is so subtly rendered that it simply blends into the whole, with seemingly no effort.

And don't buy any of that B.S from other reviewers about him being a prima donna. I just met the man in person last night in San Francisco and I can tell you for a fact that he is about as decent, humble, and nice a person as you could ever want in a good friend, let alone one of the greatest musicians on the planet.

Get this CD, listen to it, and let it fill you heart and soul with truth, love, and possibility.

As a serious fan of Bill Evans, but with little knowledge of the jazz world, I picked up the first four volumes of Mehldau's Art of the Trio recordings following a recommendation from a friend.

Volumes 1 and 3 are studio recordings; volumes 2 and 4 are live (I don't have volume 5, yet, another live volume, this one on 2 CDs). I think Mehldau is great, and I especially like the studio recordings. They are lyrical and melodic, whereas the live recordings tend more toward pyrotechnics and displays of virtuosity.

If you like the kind of music Bill Evans played, you'll certainly like volumes 1 and 3. You may prefer the live ones, especially if you're into Keith Jarrett (at least Mehldau doesn't grunt and squeal all the time). In any case, this is great music, well played and the trio has a great rapport.

This is Mehldau like you can only hear in your dreams. Subtle yet powerful, melodic yet inspiring... These performances made him one of the greatest pianists of our time. If you are new to Mehldau and want to buy one album, this is it.

A lot has been said about the emergence of Brad Mehldau onto the jazz scene. Here came a fresh face with a beautiful sound, evil rumours of drug-addiction, and, apparently, a message, if his liner-notes are anything to go by. (Ever since that horrible dribble by Stanley Crouch on Wynton Marsalis' albums, slightly over-ambitious liner-notes are a danger area, Brad ! Perhaps it's just as good that there are no liner-notes on this album.) Well, how about what really matters : the music ? The opening-track "Song-song" starts like something Satie or Debussy could have written, but then opens up to become lofty yet lyrical piano jazz. It's a great track, which sets the standard for this album. There's a couple more originals and a couple of standards, all given the Mehldau touch. Surprise track here is the inclusion of "Exit music (for a film)", a tune by rockband Radiohead. Here Mehldau proves that he can draw the essence from a composition and turn it into great jazz, no matter what its origins are. It all comes down to yet another great album by a great piano trio (Larry Grenadier on bass, and Jorge Rossy on drums). Forget the hype, listen to the music !

Thought I'd do my part and get that rating back up! Although I favor the live editions of the "Art of" series, this is probably my favorite of Mehldau's studio recordings. The trio is in fine form here, with Grenadier and Rossy ever-slightly more attuned to Brad's conception. Vol. 1 was, of course, stellar, but I give Vol. 3 the nod, if only because Brad covers a tune by Radiohead! I also love the passages where Brad is improvising with both hands--independently! Now, to address this Bill Evans/Keith Jarrett thing. Okay, I can see the Keith Jarrett thing if only because Brad's style seems to be similarly folksy and organic (at times). But I really can't see many ostensible likenesses to Bill Evans, except for the fact that you can't play jazz piano and NOT be influenced by Bill Evans. Brad is much more Jarrett than Evans, and even then he brings so much of himself to the game that the comparison to Jarrett is, at best, tenuous. The point remains...why must we insist on comparing this remarkably fresh, new voice to those who have preceded him. He's offered us music that is, I feel, teeming with vitality and originality. Let's just let Brad be Brad.

Young (mid-20s at the time) pianist Brad Mehldau is supported on this recording by Larry Genadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums. Although the subtitle "The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3" certainly seems a mite pretentious, I will readily admit that despite my initial skepticism, upon listening to this CD I soon discovered that these guys really do deliver the goods. The main title, "Songs," implies a lyrical, melodic session, and that is just what Mehldau's trio presents, ten cuts including five covers and five tunes penned by Mehldau.

These guys may be young, but they obviously have a mature love for good music and a shared aesthetic that leaves no room for mere virtuosic display--never do they appear to be trying just to show off their chops. Just listen to what they do with the old Rodgers and Hart chestnut, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" and you will be convinced that these guys really do know how to communicate musically. The recording is warm and full-bodied, just like the playing.

I've now owned this CD for more than a decade, and it impresses me more now that it did when I fist bought it -- and I really liked it then. This is a marvelous, magical release -- probably the best that Mehldau has ever done.

It's a shame that one bad review kills the average like that... This album does deserve 5 stars; its power lies in lyrical depth and intelligent choice of songs: the radiohead-cover(exit music) is brillant, Drake sounds great... In my humble opinion, it's the best of the first three albums in this trio-concept. (I haven't heard the fourth yet)

I collect albums based on mood more than genre, artist, or label. My goal is to have an album for every conceivable mood I could stumble across, no matter how subtle, from pure rage to romantic giddyness and everything in-between. Rarely do I find a musician who completely defines a certain mood for me, but Mehldau is such a musician. Whenever I'm feeling introspective, subtly moody, whenever I'm reminiscing, I simply must listen to this CD. Every note shimmers with the most intricate emotions: slight regret, longing, comfort, and a host of others, all implied rather than stated. This is my favorite CD of his, and, in fact, one of my favorite CDs ever. Very few people I know are immune to its charms. A masterpiece.