js Much like some other aging jazz musicians such as Bill Frisell and John Scofield, Brad Mehldau seems to be heading in a somewhat nostalgic direction these days. His previous album saw him exploring the prog rock of his youth, and now his latest, “Your Mother Should Know”, goes back a bit further and into the musical reign of The Beatles. If you have ever heard Brad’s lengthy improv on “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, then you will know that he can pull things never imagined before from the simplest pop tune, but this Beatles tribute is not that extravagant. Instead, on this album Mehldau more or less stays with the original tune, both in melody and in the general length of the song, but what he inserts while exploring these songs makes for some fascinating listening.

The handful of Beatle songs that jazz musicians like to play are on here, particularly “Here, There and Everywhere”, a song well on its way to becoming a ‘standard’, but there is also some sillier stuff that one wouldn’t expect a jazzer to touch. In the well written pamphlet that accompanies this CD, Brad explains how he found it interesting that The Beatles would often dive into older styles of pop and vaudeville. In that style Brad gives us, “Your Mother Should Know”, and an Art Tatum and Ellington influenced version of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. On, “I Saw Her Standing There”, Mehldau digs into his boogie-woogie chops, something he is not usually known for.

“I am the Walrus” may be the artiest art pop song ever, and a real challenge for a solo piano player, but Brad handles it well by mostly sticking to the structure of the original with some interesting embellishments added. Yes, this album is kind of ‘cute’ and nostalgic, but there is enough true artistry and imaginative changing of harmonies and tone colors to make it interesting to even the hardcore jazz fan, or someone who just likes creative contemporary music. A hallmark of Brad’s playing is that he rarely gives into gratuitous flash, every note he plays counts and is well considered, and that is why he is so adept with pop material as pop songs are often composed under similar constraints.

js Well here it is, Brad Mehldau’s somewhat ballyhooed alleged return to his youthful progressive rock roots. Truth be told, “Jacob‘s Ladder“ is not exactly a prog rock album, which may be a good thing for some, but prog does play a big part on this rather eclectic album. Along with covers of some classic songs like “Tom Sawyer“, “Cogs in Cogs“ and “Starship Trooper”, you also get a fair share of ‘trappy’ electronica nu jazz, a synthesizer fugue, some readings from the Bible, semi-classical instrumental ballads, some art pop and more. In the prog tradition, this is a very ambitious album, but how does it all add up to the listener. To paraphrase from David Byrne, “some good points, and some not as good points”. Ambitious musically, but also literally as Brad muses on man’s relationship with God in his very thoughtful opening liner notes. Second track, “Herr und Knecht”, presents intense music as Tobias Bader screams out an internal debate from Hegel’s “Phenomenology”. Yes, some of this album is far from easy listening.

“Cogs in Cogs” gets three different treatments, first a nu jazz dubish instrumental, then a cover with vocals, and then finally a synthesizer fugue that sounds like a tribute to Wendy Carlos. “Tom Sawyer” gets a jazzy treatment and overall sounds a lot better without Geddy Lee’s vocals. On “Jacob’s Ladder II”, we get an excellent Mehldau piano solo over an electronic trap groove. “Jacob’s Ladder III” has Bible verses over sampled choirs and then ends with some very intense anguished screaming and yelling, you have been warned. Closing track “Heaven …” is an album highlight as the assembled all-star band does an excellent cover of “Starship Trooper”. Cecile McLorin Salvant’s beautiful wordless vocals open the track before Safia McKinney-Askeur comes into handle the lyrics. It closes out with Brad’s relaxed and lyrical piano solo over Yes’ famous closing three chord vamp.

I didn’t come close to covering all the material on here, there is just too much to cover. Brad seems to be wrestling with the big issues here, both spiritual and philosophical. It takes a certain amount of guts and integrity to release an album that aspires to be all that Mehldau presents here.

js “Suite: April 2020” is Brad Mehldau’s attempt to capture his feelings during the pandemic while he and his family stayed home to keep from catching or spreading the infectious germs that were sweeping the world. There is of course a good bit of melancholic reflection, but also a small dose of joy that comes from time spent with family. It is a solo piano recording of course, so many solo albums came out during this time from many artists.

The first nine tracks are the highlight of the album. These tracks do flow much like a suite and you will probably find yourself listening to these as a whole, rather than as separate tracks. These are the tracks that dwell on the more somber side of the pandemic, the solitude and reflection that many of us went through. As through composed semi-classical piano pieces, these nine are quite brilliant and sound much like mid-20th century French neo-classical piano works, particularly recalling the piano compositions of Francis Poulenc. Any of these tone poems would hold up well in a contemporary classical concert. A couple tracks that follow are more light-hearted, almost silly, as they attempt to capture the feeling of family fun. These songs are okay, but unfortunately they break the hypnotic spell that Brad built during the first nine performances.

Next up, Mehldau performs an interesting cover of Neil Young’s “Don’t Let it Bring You Down”, introducing a bit of his trademark intertwining contrapuntal lines. This is followed by Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” which sounds like a fairly standard lounge version, maybe Brad wanted to leave the song alone and let it speak for itself. Apparently the closing number is a Mehldau original as there are no song writing credits given, but its title and music sound like a sentimental pop song from a bygone era. If you put together a CD that featured the first nine tracks plus the Neil Young cover and left the others out, you would have a more consistent suite.

Matt Brad Mehldau’s latest release “Seymour Reads The Constitution” is his second for this year after his well received prior “After Bach” As with the majority of the recent Trio releases they are all not Standards but Brad’s own compositions included with a few contemporary Pop or Rock tunes thrown in with this album having two of them leaning more towards the Pop side. His old stalwart Larry Grenadier who been with him since the beginning is back on Bass with Jeff Ballard who joined the Trio in 2005 playing drums. There are eight compositions included with three being Brad’s, one Standard, two Pop and one from Elmo Hope and the other Sam Rivers.

“Spiral” is first being one of Brad’s compositions with title explaining the lay out in the composition having the higher keys climbing in an up and down in a circular manner throughout this delightful first piece. The following track being the album’s title “Seymour Reads The Constitution” is in a slower introspective manner being another one of Brad’s compositions within the album employing that technique that Brad plays on piano with his left hand keeping the basic pattern while his right is adding the improvision in different timing. Larry Grenadier brings the Bass up early during the title’s structure with Brad gradually climbing the piano’s higher notes for the remainder within this beautiful piece. “Almost Like Being in Love” is the album’s only Standard played with that McCoy Tyner influence of joy infusion with a drum solo from Jeff Ballard included within this spritely take. Elmo Hope’s composition Brad keeps well recognisable and does not stray too far from the original with the theme and this time Larry Grenadier has a shot on Bass within . It’s the Beach Boys, “Friends” with the Trio bringing forth a lovely different take to the song with Brad’s left hand keeping the time with the right adding more sparkle throughout followed by the marvellous changing “Ten Tune”. Paul McCartney gets the nod with an interesting take for the song “Great Day” from his “Flaming Pie” album and then we finish up with the Sam Rivers composition “Beatrice” where we get some great interplay between Brad on piano and Jeff on drums for just another of the album’s delights.

Wonderful new album from Brad Mehldau with a bit of difference from the majority of today’s Trio albums where quite a few seem to be primarily ballads injected with crystal clear space and although many of them I do enjoy it is refreshing to get something a bit different.

js In 2012 the Brad Mehldau trio released two albums, “Ode” and “Where do You Start”. With its lineup of all original tunes, “Ode” seemed like the heavier album compared to “Where do You Start”, which consisted of a mish-mash of modern pop tunes, hard bop standards and a couple originals that are mostly jam sessions. But its worthwhile to give “Where do You Start” a timely re-listen though, because although “Ode” may still be the stronger album, there are plenty of gems on “Start” as well. As mentioned earlier, this is an eclectic album, with about four moody pop ballads, a couple hard bop standards, two Latin jazz tracks and a couple of excellent Mehldauish modal grooves. Most of the songs are good, but fans of Brad’s ‘jass’ playing could probably use a few less of the pop tunes.

The two best tracks,“Got Me Wrong” and “Jam”, are both superb modal jam sessions on which Mehldau channels a timeless early 60s coffeehouse groove with a modern fracturing in his solos. All through this album, Mehldau’s ability to spin original solos that grab your ears and don’t let go is in full effect. Brad’s elastic sense of rhythm, uncanny ability to separate his hands, plus his ability to play phrases that sound like no else continue to make him one of the most interesting musicians today. Elsewhere on this album, its great to hear Brad spin some original solos on hard bop standards by Clifford Brown and Sonny Rollins, Brad doesn’t cover material like this all that often, but he can play a very intense Bud Powell flavored neo-bop.

A good portion of this album is taken up with the sort of moody pop playing that Brad is famous for. Certainly he is the master of this sort of languid phrasing and impressionist sounds, but with so many good energetic tracks on here too, sometimes you wish the more droopy numbers would move along and make way for another jam session. This isn’t Brad’s best album, but his playing on here is outstanding and there are enough good tracks that his fans will probably want to pick this up. Those who wish to hear more serious jazz playing from Brad and his trio may want to check out his “Art of the Trio” series.