From Gershwin to Radiohead, Brad Mehldau bridges jazz generation gap

Upon stepping into McCarter, I felt the butterflies hit my stomach as I realized Brad Mehldau would be playing a solo concert. I attended the concert hoping to take away two things from his performance: Radiohead, and a glimpse of a few of his many tattoos.

As the jazz pianist stepped out on stage, he opened his show with a surprising assortment of selections.

Mehldau opened the concert with Joni Mitchell's "Roses Blue" from her album Clouds. Its dreamlike moodiness enabled him to stretch the types of musical harmonies he used, adding to the creative textural complexity of his music.

His artistic romanticism created waves of tension and release that were unique to his personality and were perfectly exemplified during his first song.

Mehldau then progressed to some old standards, perhaps to please the older audience members. He played Redd Evans' "No Moon At All" followed by a creative rendition of Gershwin's "Someone To Watch Over Me," skillfully making this piece his own while still paying respect to Gershwin's memory.

The song traveled between chordal modulations, which created different mental images and colors to be experienced by the audience's ears. Mehldau's ability to convey a melodic line so gently and then switch to a very authoritative form of the same melody held the listeners' interest quite well.

His technical command was also remarkable and most notable in the lengthy cadenza Mehldau developed in the Gershwin piece. He raised the tension by complicating the lines and quoting other Gershwin classics. "Rhapsody In Blue" made its way into the cadenza, bringing smiles to the audience.

The audience was given a special treat when Mehldau announced he would play a couple of untitled originals that were still in the works. Both songs were very much in the style of his previous album, Places, and his latest, Largo.

After sharing this music with us, he went straight into the piece that stole the show, Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." On Largo, this song is full of auxiliary percussion and has many complex layers of sound.

Piano, bass, and maracas function together to create a full sound. Though his live rendition featured just piano, he filled the auditorium with an even more energetic jam of the song that would have made Johnny Greenwood proud.

Just when the audiences' ears were ready to hear the band rock out, Mehldau emphasized the lower octaves of the piano, filling up the entire theater with rich acoustics. Whereas the elder audience members were delighted with Gershwin, the younger crowd was dazzled with this more modern piece.

After finishing the Radiohead song, Mehldau continued with a Burt Bacharach song titled "Alfie," and a classic jazz piece "Off Minor" by pianist Thelonious Monk.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

He closed the concert with the last track of Largo, a beautiful ballad called "I Do." Mehldau stayed very close to the song's context as heard on the album but added passion that can only come from the energy of a live show.

After the concert I was lucky enough to spend some time chatting with the pianist about his music and the jazz industry. It is unusual to hear such a variety of tunes by such an array of composers within a single jazz performance.

"Most of my performance repertoire, as well as much of what I record, is just representative of what I happen to be listening to at the time," Mehldau explained.

He also shared his opinions on a couple of the jazz places and musicians in New York City. Mehldau said he is partial to the Village Vanguard, one of jazz's most historical sites, adding that every time he performs at the club he is overwhelmed by thoughts of the legendary figures who performed there before him like John Coltrane or Bill Evans.

He also said to watch for saxophonist Mark Turner and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkle, his colleagues who are starting to gain notoriety.

Some in the audience wondered why Mehldau choose to perform solo instead of with a full ensemble the repertoire from his latest album Largo.

"The complexity of the instrumentations on the album would require a six-hour-long sound check, which would be highly impractical for a touring show," he explained.

"Should I have played an encore number?" he asked as we wrapped up the conversation. When the other people in the green room and I replied enthusiastically yes, he responded humorously, "Damn, I messed up."

It is not every weekend that such a hip performer comes to enlighten Princeton audiences. Check out Largo, and you too will enjoy Mehldau's character and creativity. And hit the city sometime to see him live. Maybe you'll get to see his tattoos, which unfortunately, I have yet to see.