Freitag, 2. Mai 2008, 21:33
Wed 30 Apr – Brad Mehldau, Brad Mehldau Trio
A well-developed solo is a beautiful thing that takes time. Using time to their advantage, the Brad Mehldau Trio played an intoxicating set at the Barns at Wolftrap in Vienna, VA. The trio’s latest album, Live (2008 Nonesuch), came to life as the sense of blossoming solos on the recording was always present on stage.
The band played all material that was not on the latest release, providing an eclectic set list. An original blues by Mehldau was followed by a quirky composition that featured the interplay over a repetitive groove between bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard.
Chico Buarque’s “Samba e Amor” and the free “Wyatt’s Eulogy for George Hanson” were played next. The film Easy Rider inspired Mehldau to conceptualize the latter; a eulogy given at a friend’s funeral that becomes very heated, and perhaps even confused. The delivery of the piece that began akin to Coltrane's Psalm was mesmerizing, watching the band swirl around ideas, taking an emotion and exploiting it: each man with his head down, eyes closed, calling on whatever was in him to come forth.
Transforming Thelonious Monk’s “We See” into twists of syncopated chords underneath brisk bass walking and cymbal time, Mehldau’s solo on the up-tempo number perfectly represented what he wrote on the digital liner notes for the trio’s latest album: “Within a performance, there is an awareness between the three of us that there is no need to hurry to the finish line.” This understood patience means nothing forced or hurried. Mehldau would take a motive, perhaps based on a group of three, and explore different permutations of it, not resolving the idea until content with the time spent on it and the tension achieved with it.
This thought process carried into Ballard’s drum solo, which seemed to be ten or so choruses of the 32-bar form. Ballard would blur the bar lines with syncopations while keeping the integrity of the melody and form. The art of developing a solo never seemed so apparent than when he took a flourish of double stops around the snares and toms for an entire chorus, increasing in intensity the whole time. Grenadier’s walking solo on the tune employed interesting altered chords, unpredictable intervals, and use of harmonics. The constant forward motion was insistent and a change of pace from the expected solo of dexterous fingers playing quick lines up and down the fingerboard.
An extended piano solo at the end of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s “My Ship” exposed the pianist’s lyrical beauty with the keys. While many in the audience may have been expecting to hear “Wonderwall” or “Black Hole Sun,” Mehldau – who is known for covering pop songs in gorgeous yet logical arrangements – and the trio instead played Sufjan Steven’s “Holland.” Voices wandered and crossed from low to high, creating two tracks of enchanting melody.
For a second dose of Brazilian compositions of the night, the trio encored with “Aquellas Cosas Todas,” delivering a catchy melody and rhythm that, in the true Brazilian fashion of mixing styles, seemed to blend the Northeastern Brazilian baião with samba. The result was an authentic-sounding Brazilian performance with the true sound of the group.
The few years the trio has been together has created this sound that is true, that is vibrant, and that has time to spare.