Song:Holland
Album:Where Do You Start
Brad Mehldau is one of today's most popular jazz pianists. He has led his trio since 1995 and he also records side projects and experiments with different types of music. But he always goes back to the trio. He was born Aug. 23, 1970 in Jacksonville, FL. His family moved to West Hartford, CT when he was age ten. He took piano lessons as a child but he got serious about it as a teen listening to Oscar Peterson. Mehldau moved to New York in 1988 to study at The New School. One of his teachers was legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb. Mehldau played local clubs in Cobb's band and he recorded and toured with sax player Christopher Holyday. He led a quartet with sax player Perico Sambeat and Mario (bass) and Jorge (drums) Rossy. They recorded a couple of albums. Mehldau's profile was raised when he toured with sax player Joshua Redman. Mehldau was featured on Redman's 1994 album Moodswing and Redman's score for the film Vanya on 42nd Street. Then he signed with Redman's label Warner Bros. Records. Mehldau still records for Warner Music. They moved all jazz artists to Nonesuch. His debut as a leader was Introducing Brad Mehldau in 1995 with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. Mehldau was critically acclaimed but some critics compared him unfavorably to Bill Evans. His big problem at the time was heroin addiction. Mehldau moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to kick the habit. He continued to record with his trio and Mehldau became a regular on the jazz festival circuit. He also recorded with Chris Potter, Lee Konitz, Willie Nelson and he was featured on the soundtrack of the film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In 2005, Rossy was replaced by Jeff Ballard. And that is Mehldau's trio today. Holland is from the 2011 CD Where Do You Start. Mehldau recorded two albums at the same time. The CD Ode was all original songs. Where Do You Start is all covers. Holland was written by singer songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Mehldau has experimented with electronics in the duo Mehliana with drummer Mark Giuliana. They recorded and toured and John Scofield joined them on tour. Mehldau's latest CD was with mandolinist Chris Thile. It was released Jan. 2017 and they toured to support it. Currently Mehldau is touring solo but he will tour with Thile again in November. Here's Brad Mehldau with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard performing Holland at the 2008 Berghausen Jazz Festival in Germany.
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