Among the trio compositions are A Walk in the Park , an elegant jazzy tune with a virtuoso piano part, and Schloss Elmau , a performance of classical jazz elegance. After his seductive duo album on Verve with Fleurine, Mehldau proves once more to be an outstanding pianist. More importantly, he has established himself as one of the leading composers of the moment. As usual, Mehldau offers a look into his philosophical world in his sleeve-notes . Some may call them presumptuous or a marketing ploy, but as long as they contain interesting thoughts, I prefer them to the stupid lyrics we are used to read from most pop, jazz and classical composers.
Memory can make a location more 'real' than it ever was in reality.
For instance, there's the scent of an object that's been brought home from somewhere far away. The Brad Mehldau Trio featuring the pianist, his traditional drummer Jorge Rossy and his bassist Larry Grenadier played on November 19 at the AVO Session in Basel. The concert was largely dedicated to their new album Places . It was clearly a jazz evening. Mehldau's magical piano improvisations, closely related to romantic classical music, were missing.