BRAD MEHLDAU
Largo
Warner
· Jazz piano gets an overhaul in the studio with a profusion of electronic sounds.
Brad Melhdau has always managed to strike somewhere in between the boundaries of most musical genres. With his latest album, Largo, Melhdau may have opened the door to what is to come in the future of his genre. Defying categorical tags, Largo stands as an adventure in avant-jazz-pop-electronica-improv that mostly meets its mark in offering something "nu." Fixations of romantic 19th century figures of Brahms and Schumann meld with the 20th century sounds of Radiohead and the Beatles.
What is born is something that disregards the jazz category and thankfully sidesteps the annoying misnomers of nujazz and nugroove. In keeping with his fascination in pop culture that was found in his Art of Trio 4, Melhdau renders an achingly beautiful "Paranoid Android," whose gloom melts into the sincerity of "Dear Prudence," showing it was meant to sit alongside any jazz standard. One hopes Largo is a hint about the path Melhdau is planning to take and not merely a momentary slip out of the groove.
|
