Brad Mehldau’s masterpiece “Highway Rider” is the centerpiece of SF Jazz’s 5th season, performed in full from Thursday through this Sunday, October 9th. Highway Rider is a concept album from 2010 that essentially chronicles the journey of “John Boy” (the first track) on a life journey that becomes cyclical. The album features Joshua Redman on tenor and soprano sax and an accompanying orchestra, and it was produced by Jon Brion, renowned for working with artists such as Kanye West, Fiona Apple, Katy Perry, and Elliott Smith.
So it was a rare treat to hear the performance last night, just the fourth time the entire album has been performed for a live audience. SF Jazz’s stage barely fit the 31-piece orchestra, plus Mehldau and Joshua Redman (the “protagonist” of the album, as Mehldau called him), Larry Grenadier on bass and then two drummers, Jeff Ballard and Mark Guiliana.
Overall, the concert was a tribute showcase to the powerful, deeply melodious and introspective tunes penned by Mehldau. The pianist has a gift for writing melodies that sound almost pop in nature but then unexpectedly hit a flat note or minor chord that changes your orientation and keeps the music compelling. Often the melodies veer into bluesy riffs. He also enjoys a bouncy, almost-rock music like approach to chords, making the music accessible and often toe-tapping.
This was different than a typical jazz show, which might just feature four or five players with heavy improvisation. In most jazz shows, the musicians basically just rehearse the intros and conclusions and then decide who solos when. Otherwise it’s mostly free-form improved solos.
With this show, it was necessarily much more structured. The concert mirrored the two-disc set, with an intermission as you “change CDs” (for those of us who are old school). With the orchestra (alumni of the San Francisco Conservatory) playing rehearsed backing music, the lead players were limited in how much they could improvise solos.
Certainly there was room for going off on a solo, as Redman did on outstanding tracks like the haunting “Don’t Be Sad,” bouyant “Capriccio” and “Old West.” One of the big crowd pleasers was “Into The City” featuring Jeff Ballard going hyper ballistic on drums, with Grenadier keeping pace along the way. Overall, theirs was a tightly structured performance that stayed true to the album.
The only negative comment is that the first half seemed a little bit stilted, perhaps due the unrehearsed nature of the performance (Mehldau admitted they really only had time for one rehearsal the day before). Redman had trouble with his reed on his soprano sax at a few points, and a french horn player and oboist inexplicably disappeared in the beginning and did not return. But it was stunning to hear the full sound of the jazz quintet with the backing orchestra, faithfully performing the sounds of the album.
The second half seemed much looser and more powerful, and I imagine these performances will only improve through the weekend (Sunday is the last day of the show). And for his part, Mehldau seemed thrilled to have the opportunity to play this work with such an accomplished group and a full orchestra. He even plugged a new book written as an analysis of the album.
It was overall an impressive and faithful performance of a boundary-pushing album, and a tour de force of musicianship, songwriting, and virtuoso playing. Worth seeing if you’re in the Bay Area.
Jazz piano isn’t my main thing, but it’s a whole different story when Brad Mehldau plays. Brad often does inventive covers of modern pop songs, particularly shining on Beatles tunes, and he adds classical and blues elements combined with the occasional funk. He can really groove, or he can be tremendously tasteful and melodic.
He also comes out of a Los Angeles jazz scene that featured music producer Jon Brion, who has worked with a range of artists including Kanye West and Fiona Apple. So Brad comes from a community that is open to innovation and experimentation in terms of what defines jazz.
Brad and trio wave to the crowd, view from our seats at SF Jazz.
Tuesday night I got to hear him play at SF Jazz, and it was one of the best concerts I’ve attended. Brad was with his trio, including Bay Area-native, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Jeff Ballard. They opened with a jazz standard made famous by Sinatra, “Almost Like Being in Love,” although it was almost unrecognizable in their arrangement. The tune was kind of an odd, quirky start, featuring Brad’s meandering and experimental solos and then ending with trading solos (eight measures and then four and then two each) with Ballard on drums. In retrospect, I found it to be one of my least-favorite tunes of the night, just because the arrangement was a bit challenging to absorb.
But one of my favorites was the second tune, a Mehldau original called “After the After,” featuring haunting piano work in trill style and numerous key changes to give it an atmospheric but groovy feel.
After those more ethereal tunes, he played probably my favorite of the night, an awesome cover of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery’s “West Coast Blues.” It’s a blues waltz, and Brad completely rocked it on the solo, overlaying classical phrasing on top of blues scales. Ballard’s drum solo was one of the best I’ve heard, as he kept the waltz time on the high hat and bass drum while going ballistic poly-rhythmic on everything else he could bang. It was a tour de force.
Next they played a gorgeous Brazilian tune from the 1940s called “Vibracao” (Brad said it was written by a guy whose name translates to “Jack the Mandolin Player” in english). It sounded a lot like an Antonio Carlos Jobim song, kind of bossa nova and full of beauty and joy.
The trio followed it with an original called “Ballard’s Balls” (they unveiled the working title at our show). The melody sounded a lot like West Coast Blues, which was distracting. But the groove was fantastic, featuring Ballard’s excellent work on the snare drum, and I could picture the song evolving nicely as they play it more.
Brad ended the set with a beautiful ballad and jazz standard, “Where Do You Start?“. It featured some haunting solo piano work by Brad, and the song reminded me of the joy conveyed by “Vibracao” earlier in the set.
For the encore, the trio completely rocked it on a cover of “Hey Joe,” made famous by Jimi Hendrix. Grenadier played his solo like a rock guitarist, totally owning his upright bass and practically stealing the show at that point. But then Brad’s solo took over, building to a finale by using that walking-bass line sound that Jimi used at the end of his guitar solo.
And with that, the trio left the stage, leaving us to groove on our way out the door. I’ll definitely try to catch his show the next time he’s in town.
Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau pretty much owns this version of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”:
