Music

Places
from Warner Bros / Wea

In 1999, pianist Brad Mehldau took his four-part Art of the Trio series to a pinnacle with Back at the Vanguard, his second live album (after Art of the Trio, Volume 2: Live at the Vanguard). He likewise took flight on his solo piano Elegiac Cycle, which bolstered listeners' association of Mehldau with the impressionistic line of pianists ranging from Bill Evans to Keith Jarrett. With Places, Mehldau deepens the sense that he's fond of invoking spaces dynamically, as physical locales and mental-spiritual planes. He's furthering his solo-piano explorations, with seven starkly lyrical performances here. Six tunes feature Mehldau's standing trio--rounded out by drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Larry Grenadier--and the unit's telepathic communication on each tune. Balladry meshes on Places with steady grooves and sweetly drawn, melancholic portraits like “Airport Sadness.“ Creatively restless, Mehldau also logs important, diaphanous flying time on saxophonist Charles Lloyd's millennium-opening salvo, The Water Is Wide, extending Lloyd's appetite for expansive, meditative genius.

Buy Now		from Powell’s
Buy Now		from Amazon.com