Metheny-Mehldau in the NYTimes

[7/4]

April 8, 2007

Music

A Mutual Inspiration Society in Action

By NATE CHINEN

FOR the last few weeks the guitarist Pat Metheny and the pianist Brad Mehldau have been conducting an almost nightly experiment. On a cross-country string of concerts in support of their fine recent Nonesuch albums — “Metheny Mehldau,” which has sold more than 30,000 copies since September, and “Quartet,” released on March 13 — they have been combining two of modern jazz’s most distinctive personalities, in a mercurial sort of chemistry. And the results are exceeding some high expectations.

At the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, Calif., one week into the tour, they played exquisitely together, without the slightest hint of accommodation. Along with a handful of intensely focused duets, they explored some radiant and dynamic new material with Mr. Mehldau’s regular rhythm team, the bassist Larry Grenadier and the drummer Jeff Ballard. The songs were all originals, largely by Mr. Metheny, and they advanced an uncommon synthesis of melodic ease and harmonic sophistication.

The music sounded more fully realized than on the albums, which were recorded in a single week in 2005. It sounded like the vivid hybrid one might hope for from Mr. Metheny and Mr. Mehldau, who are to perform at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night. They are strikingly different musicians by temperament: Mr. Metheny tends to come across as effusive, Mr. Mehldau as introspective. The Pat Metheny Group, formed 30 years ago, is a broad-canvas electric ensemble with a burnished sensibility, while the Brad Mehldau Trio, just over a decade old, is a graceful and sonorous acoustic jazz combo.

But there are affinities between the two beyond their popularity and virtuosity. Each has developed an individual solo vocabulary on his instrument, as well as a deep attunement to ensemble interplay. Both are dedicated students of the post-bop jazz tradition who have also been deeply influenced by classical music, Brazilian music and harmonically sophisticated pop. (Mr. Metheny once toured with Joni Mitchell; Mr. Mehldau is the only nonsinger on the star-studded Joni Mitchell tribute album Nonesuch is releasing this month.)

“We’re drinking from the same waters,” Mr. Mehldau said one morning a month before the tour. Minutes earlier Mr. Metheny had suggested that the artists were “part of the same tribe.” Sitting side by side in Nonesuch’s Midtown office, they were discussing their collaboration in terms both analytical and abstract.

Mr. Metheny, 52, is the elder of the pair. Born and raised in Lee’s Summit, Mo., he began playing professionally in Kansas City as a teenager, later dropping out of college to join the vibraphonist Gary Burton’s band. In 1975 he made his remarkable debut as a leader, “Bright Size Life,” initiating what would evolve into an acclaimed and irreducibly expansive solo career. His early albums, notably “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls,” a collaboration with the pianist Lyle Mays, were among the first jazz recordings to make an impression on Mr. Mehldau.

“Pat’s music is just already in my playing, the way Miles Davis is,” Mr. Mehldau said, recalling his upbringing in West Hartford, Conn. Now 36 he has earned a reputation as perhaps the most accomplished jazz musician of his generation, with a string of impressive albums stretching back a dozen years. Another precocious talent, Mr. Mehldau entered the mainstream jazz consciousness in 1994, as a sideman on a Warner Brothers album by the saxophonist Joshua Redman. Mr. Metheny — who heard a track from the album on a car radio, he has recalled, and was so fascinated by the pianist that he pulled over to the shoulder of the road — had been featured on Mr. Redman’s previous album, released in 1993.

“Brad’s appearance on the scene was really significant to me,” Mr. Metheny said, “because I just recognized immediately so many of the ideals that I aspire to myself, rendered in a way that was unbelievably refreshing.” Pressed to elaborate, he focused on the improviser’s art of melodic development, which at its best conveys “the sense of inevitability” along with a spirit of discovery. “Brad embodies the quest for taking ideas and letting them sort of bloom in really extended ways,” he said.

Naturally that quest is a guiding force of “Metheny Mehldau,” which consists almost entirely of duets. Some, as they unfold, do suggest the pairing of inevitability and discovery. “Annie’s Bittersweet Cake,” a piece by Mr. Mehldau, has a discursive melody that Mr. Metheny happily executes and then expands. And on “Make Peace,” one of Mr. Metheny’s pastoral tunes, Mr. Mehldau employs a subtle chromaticism while his partner strums in the background. Even at its most rarefied, their rapport sounds easy.

The most potent material on the album, though, is a pair of tracks with the full quartet. “Ring of Life” lands with a jolt, thanks to a hyperkinetic beat by Mr. Ballard; “Say the Brother’s Name” percolates more gently but no less insistently. Both songs anticipate “Quartet,” a more immediately gripping album than its predecessor. Yet “Quartet” also fulfills a cycle of completion. The light it sheds is magnanimous. Retroactively the first album feels stronger and clearer because of it.

Pianists and guitarists in a jazz rhythm section often have to put effort into staying out of each other’s way: it’s an inherent drawback to the overlapping ranges of the instruments, and (at least where jazz is concerned) the overlapping roles. Mr. Metheny has spent 30 years in a prolific partnership with Mr. Mays, while Mr. Mehldau has worked on an off with the guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Peter Bernstein. Not surprisingly, Mr. Mehldau and Mr. Metheny cite the same album — “Smokin’ at the Half Note,” with Wes Montgomery on guitar and Wynton Kelly on piano — as formative.

Remarkably the Metheny-Mehldau quartet doesn’t sound like the Montgomery-Kelly band — or the Pat Metheny Group, or even the Brad Mehldau Trio Plus Pat Metheny. “To me it all boils down to being less about the instruments and more about the quality of listening,” Mr. Metheny said. “And as a subtext, the idea of approaching things with a sense of orchestration, which somehow I think both Brad and I almost naturally do.”

He added that he saw the quartet’s music as distinct from anything in his own history. “I wouldn’t know where to place it on a spectrum, formwise, structurewise, soundwise,” he said. “And actually that’s something that I really like about Brad’s stuff in general: It’s very difficult to place it on the spectrum.”

Mr. Mehldau nodded. “That’s a great compliment,” he said, before reciprocating in kind. “I think what any musician hopes for is to get to the point where Pat has, where the music’s been out and has seeped into the world. And it’s not so much ‘That’s hard to place.’ It’s: ‘Oh, he made a new place. He created an identity.’ ”

There is evidence on “Quartet” to support two identities. “Towards the Light” could pass for a Pat Metheny Group composition, with its guitar-synthesizer timbres and mounting drama. “Santa Cruz Slacker” is a harmonically subversive stroll easily traceable to Mr. Mehldau. On “En la Tierra Que No Olvida,” a tango by Mr. Metheny, Mr. Mehldau begins his solo with an indirect quotation of Mr. Metheny’s classic “Bright Size Life”; both artists said they had missed the accidental allusion.

Mr. Grenadier, the bassist, who has worked in trios with both Mr. Mehldau and Mr. Metheny, attested to an evolutionary leap during the first week of the tour. “On the record you have Brad’s tune ‘Fear and Trembling,’ ” he said by telephone from Mesa, Ariz. “That to me is a great example of Pat moving into Brad’s trio world. Maybe on the record that’s a bit more separated. Here’s a tune like that, and here’s one where the trio moves into Pat’s world. In the live context, every tune is a combination.”

Those words rang true in Palm Desert, where the concert began with a chamberlike duo set and led into “A Night Away,” a buoyant full-group invocation jointly composed by Mr. Mehldau and Mr. Metheny. Over the next two hours the group played songs from both albums, along with two new Metheny contributions: a skittering samba and a blazing Ornette Coleman- inspired blues. “The Sound of Water,” a diaphanous duet featuring Mr. Metheny’s 42-string Pikasso acoustic guitar, felt much more substantial than on record, partly because Mr. Mehldau expressed himself so emphatically.

Next week marks the end of the tour, but not the full extent of the Metheny-Mehldau partnership. Both musicians took part in “Pilgrimage,” the final album by the saxophonist Michael Brecker, who died in January. “It’s one of the most exciting records I’ve ever been a part of,” Mr. Mehldau said of the album, scheduled for release in May.

And there are sure to be other intersections, possibly including a live release, given that the tour is being recorded. Presumably Nonesuch caught a few of the transitory highlights of the Palm Desert concert, like Mr. Ballard’s ferocious and textured locomotion on “Ring of Life,” beneath a searching guitar-synth solo. Perhaps there’s documentation of the encore, a floating waltz by Mr. Metheny called “Bachelors III.”

In its original incarnation on record, it was a duet, fine-featured and crisp. It sounded a shade darker as a quartet piece, and its post-bop harmonic terrain gave Mr. Mehldau and Mr. Metheny ample space for elaboration. Each played the song as if he owned it, and in the most important sense, they were both right.

[AllenLowe]

I'm with Clem on this one - saw Mehldau on BET a few months back, playing a kind of neo-New Age solo piano that was truly repulsive. Also can't stand his middle-brow pseudo-intellectualism writing; kinda like listening to Sam Goldwyn read the dictionary -

[Joe G]

That's fine with me. I enjoyed the concert in Detroit a couple of nights ago. It seemed to go by fast, and I would have gladly stayed for more. The Grenadier/Ballard combo was excellent. Not that I think he can do no wrong, but Pat's a long time favorite of mine, and sounded inspired to me that night. Brad seemed to defer to Pat just a bit, but had some fine moments of his own.

[randissimo]

That's fine with me. I enjoyed the concert in Detroit a couple of nights ago. It seemed to go by fast, and I would have gladly stayed for more. The Grenadier/Ballard combo was excellent. Not that I think he can do no wrong, but Pat's a long time favorite of mine, and sounded inspired to me that night. Brad seemed to defer to Pat just a bit, but had some fine moments of his own.

I KNEW THAT'S WHERE YOU WERE !!!!!

[AllenLowe]

Mehlday can play, no doubt about that - I knew him as a "kid" when he used to come up to the sessions in Hartford, and he was brilliant - I just think he's gotten a little bit full of himself - there was a very unpleasant narcissism to that BET performance that just got to me -

[Tom Storer]

I'm not that big on piano trios in general (with exceptions, of course), so I never got any of the Mehldau trio CDs. That said, I saw him in concert in a small club in Paris. Bass and drums is usually what makes or breaks a piano trio, and Grenadier and Rossy definitely made it. Grenadier was superb, not just the backbone but the stickshift, if you see what I mean. Mehldau could do all the fancy stuff, and it was nice, all right, but that bass was where the authority was coming from.

[Joe G]

I've seen Larry G. in three different settings now, but it was with quartet that what he does really became clear to me. On record, he rarely calls attention to himself, and this was pretty much the case in Detroit except for a couple of solos. But man, he was just laying down some all around great bass work. And he looked really happy to be playing with that group.

[Joe G]

I hear that hate is the new love.

[AllenLowe]

you guys are getting me all like...misty...

[AllenLowe]

well, at those jams he was very polite -

[Joe G]

while pat has no shortage of arrogance himself (remember that psychotic rant over the kenny g/satchmo "duet"?), he has the goods to back it up.

That rant didn't strike me as arrogant. Nor has any other comment I've seen from him.

[CJ Shearn]

I agree Pat isn't the slightest bit arrogant. While I am unable (at the moment) to see this tour, the Quartet album is excellent, and as the show from Colorado Springs on dime shows, live things are working very well.

[etherbored]

just out of curiosity, have you ever had the occiasion to work with pat?

[Joe G]

No, I haven't - have you?

After thinking about it, I will say that there's a certain arrogance that goes with greatness. Pat knows what he wants, that's for sure. But he seems pretty generous, too. And not above criticising himself, either. Call it a healthy arrogance.

[David]

I had the opportunity to meet Pat when he was the guest artist at one of our Jazz Ensemble concerts while I was in college. He came across as humble, approachable, and very likable. Of course he was in a completely different league than any of us were in terms of playing and we immediately recognized that.

I guess it is his policy to not eat before concerts and he didn't have dinner before ours. After the concert he stayed an extra hour helping a saxophonist in our band learn how to improvise over Minuano, starting one note at a time per chord. Arrogant is the last word I would use to describe him from my encounters.

Count me in as someone who is impressed.

[Jim Alfredson]

After thinking about it, I will say that there's a certain arrogance that goes with greatness.

Is that why I'm such an asshole?

[7/4]

After thinking about it, I will say that there's a certain arrogance that goes with greatness.

Is that why I'm such an asshole?

[Joe G]

After thinking about it, I will say that there's a certain arrogance that goes with greatness.

Is that why I'm such an asshole?

No, that's why you're arrogant. I don't know why you're such an asshole.

[Jim Alfredson]

[etherbored]

No, I haven't - have you?

i have. several times under different circumstances (all on the business end of things).

please don't misunderstand my prior post ("while pat has no shortage of arrogance himself, he has the goods to back it up.") to infer that he's an ass or anything of the sort. i simply mean to say what you said in a subsequent post; that a certain amount of arrogance goes with greatness.

sometimes it's difficult for me to determine the line between healthy and unhealthy, again not that i feel pat's is unhealthy.

ps: as a footnote, if you're going to determine whether a musician, or anyone for that matter, is arrogant (or nice or generous or genius or whatever), you're not going to get a good fix on any quality unless you spend some serious time with that person.

Edited April 11, 2007 by etherbored

[CJ Shearn]

yeah, what about that time Jim you told me to you know Seriously, Pat graciously allowed me to do an email interview with him 5 years or so ago and he was very thoughtful. Also due to miscommunication between the venue and the musicians, when I saw the PMG live, I wasn't able to meet the band, but...... his roadie came out, took my CD cover and program, and 2 days later it came back in the mail signed.

Edited April 11, 2007 by CJ Shearn

[robviti]

pat metheny and brad mehldau, "two of modern jazz’s most distinctive personalities."

remarks like this one make me weep.

[CJ Shearn]

how come? these are great albums. By the end of the year the Complete Sessions will be released, probably with a 3rd disc of live stuff and ways to get additional downloads. Nonesuch is having some sort of program for those of us who bought the 2 albums individually to get the Complete Sessions.

[Joe G]

jazzshrink no likey.

[7/4]

how come? these are great albums. By the end of the year the Complete Sessions will be released, probably with a 3rd disc of live stuff and ways to get additional downloads. Nonesuch is having some sort of program for those of us who bought the 2 albums individually to get the Complete Sessions.

a program for addictive personalities?

Hi. My name is David B. I need everything that was recorded.