Brad Mehldau gave the New York premiere of his Highway Rider in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall Tuesday night, performing with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the musicians featured on the album. The New York Times says of all Mehldau's classically inspired works, Highway Rider "is his grandest effort yet," with its "ear-catching modal motif" and influences in Beethoven. At the same time, it remains "couched in jazz’s bluesy chromaticism and fluid rhythms." Highway Rider's European premiere is this Saturday at the Barbican in London.
Brad Mehldau gave the New York premiere of his Highway Rider at Carnegie Hall—where he is holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair—in Zankel Hall Tuesday night. Mehldau performed the new piece with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, led by Scott Yoo, and the musicians featured on the Nonesuch recording of Highway Rider: his trio mates Jeff Ballard (percussion) and Larry Grenadier (bass), Joshua Redman on saxophone, and percussionist Matt Chamberlain.
The New York Times, in its concert review, takes a look at the classical influences this jazz pianist and composer has put to good use in his career. Of all such projects from Mehldau, writes New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn in his review, Highway Rider "is his grandest effort yet." The piece "is built around transformations of an ear-catching modal motif," says Kozinn, and shows just how serious a student he is of the classical canon. "[Y]ou could hear how he took Beethoven’s process to heart, and in terms of both texture and spirit, the movements dominated by lush, dark-hued strings ... owe a lot to Metamorphosen."
Yet for all its classical hues, the new piece remains rooted in jazz, such that "nearly everything about Highway Rider—not least Mr. Mehldau’s rhapsodic piano solos, Joshua Redman’s magnificently supple virtuosic saxophone playing, Larry Grenadier’s shapely bass lines and Jeff Ballard’s and Matt Chamberlain’s inventive, richly detailed drumming—is couched in jazz’s bluesy chromaticism and fluid rhythms."
Read the complete concert review at nytimes.com.
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Mehldau, Ballard, Grenadier, Redman, and Chamberlain all head next to London for the European premiere of Highway Rider at the Barbican this Saturday, as part of the London Jazz Festival, followed by performances in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, and, finally, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in the coming weeks. Yoo will lead the Britten Sinfonia for each performance on the European tour. For more information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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To pick up a copy of Highway Rider with the complete album included as high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s at checkout, head to the Nonesuch Store. While there, you can place your pre-order now for Mehldau's forthcoming 2CD/DVD album, Live in Marciac, due out January 11.
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