For pianist Brad Mehldau, the term "Largo," the title of his latest work, comes with three varying meanings that seem to sum up the atmosphere, inspiration and musical approach to an album focused on the art of the piano trio.
Not only is "largo" interpreted to mean "slow" when seen on a page of musical notation or when translated from Italian is "large" or "spacious," but it's also the name of a Los Angeles nightclub where Mehldau and the producer of "Largo," Jon Brion, first met each other.
Mehldau signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1994 and has since recorded jazz piano trio records such as his debut record, "Introducing Brad Mehldau"; several albums recorded live at the Village Vanguard; and 2000's "Places."
Mehldau enlisted his close friends and longtime trio mates bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. Guest musicians included electric bassist Justin Meldal-Jonson and drummer Victor Indrizzo. The work also features brass and woodwind arrangements.
"Largo" features nine original compositions and four cover arrangements including two tunes by the Beatles, along with the most intriguing rendition of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" that has ever been put on record to date.
Wy sat down with Mehldau last week and talked about the album that was recorded live in the studio without the use of overdubs or looping effects.
Wy: Do you see yourself being the bandleader of something other than a trio? What is it about the trio that appeals to you?
Brad Mehldau: It's really the two musicians I'm playing with; that's a big part of it. I guess a trio works with us because there's enough room in that instrumentation for all of us to express ourselves fully.
On the song 'You're Vibing Me' on your latest album, 'Largo,' the drums seem to sit up front while the piano sits in the background but it then moves forward around the middle of the tune. How did this idea develop? Was this something Jon (Brion, 'Largo' producer) or you thought of?
All these kind of mixing devices were from Jon's arsenal, which is why in one way I think of this record as a collaboration between his sonic and production approach and my musical approach. Often what would happen, like on that track, is that he would set up an environment sonically, working at it for a while -- micing the drums a certain way, compressing the hell out of them, panning them a certain way -- then working on the piano by putting that "trippy" equalizer on it. Then once we heard that in our headphones, we'd play for a while. Then I wrote that tune based on that sonic world and the instrumentation that we had.
Track one, 'When It Rains,' is such a wonderful construction and deconstruction of a song, and it grooves so hard. In fact, most of 'Largo' grooves so hard, particularly tracks one, two and three. This record sounds so polished and full that it sometimes sounds like it could be a piece of electronica music. I wanted to know how you developed some of these songs on this record. Were they products of jamming or did you sit down by yourself and write out the compositions?
Some of the compositions, like the opener "When it Rains," "Franklin Avenue," "Dusty McNugget," or the last track, "I Do," were written out ahead of time, with the woodwind and brass arrangements, etc. Others were like what I described with "You're Vibing Me" -- written out in the studio after being inspired by the environment Jon had created. "Alvarado" was that process as well. Then there were the jams - "Free Willy" and "Dropjes" were completely improvised collectively, with no music or direction from my part, again inspired in a big part from the sonics. So if I look at it, there were roughly three different approaches.
Both 'You're Vibing Me' and 'Dusty McNugget' seem to have two different drum tracks; one with the brushes and the snare, and the other with the sticks and the entire kit. I think this gives the trio sound added fullness. Was this something that you or Jon thought of during the project or in post-production?
Everything was recorded live in the studio; there were no overdubs, samples or loops on the record. So we never went back and put something on like that. This was something Jon and I came to naturally throughout the recording. We realized that we had a heavy emphasis on production in a way, and that it could be tempered by keeping the interaction intact between a bunch of musicians in one room playing together live. We liked that dichotomy and decided to stick with it. One thing that's been a little bemusing in the feedback I've gotten for "Largo" in the press is that it's referred too often as my foray into loops, samples and overdubs, even though I explicitly stated in the liner notes that we didn't do any of that. This is probably because the culture is so awash in all that stuff now. When someone hears a record with a certain audible focus on production and a focus on the groove, they just assume 'It's sampled; it's loops.' That's an unfortunate byproduct of hip-hop affecting everything over the last couple of decades, it's dulled people's ears a bit. Anyhow, when someone's really listening closely like you, it's been rewarding to get the positive feedback about the groove, because I think one of the things that really made the record come together groovewise was that we were all responding to each other in a live situation. It has an organic quality to it that's very important to me musically.
What got you thinking about using horns and strings on this album?
I wanted a texture to play off, a "pad" as the arrangers and conductors call it. It was different, playing off something vs. supplying that texture yourself.
One musician recently said that when he's writing a tune he tries to fall into a state of receptivity and allow the song to unveil itself to him. Does this philosophy hold any merit for your own personal process?
There is an initial state of receptivity that you need to be in; that's a good way of putting it. For me, once I'm in that state, I need to yoke it against something that runs contrary to it -- a certain intellectual headspace that helps you edit and chisel away. You can't keep every idea, and at every moment in writing even a simple short song, you have countless options over which way you can turn. So you have to somehow hang onto the initial emotional impulse that inspired you to begin, but see the big picture and be pragmatically thinking about the whole shape, the beginning to the end, before you're done. That means you have to put that impulse in check sometimes, which is kind of hard assed. It's a real balancing act.
For me, 'Largo' is one of those albums I can listen to for days on end, which is not normal for me when it comes to piano trio records. Usually, they eat away at my mind after a while, but your stuff is different. I get the same feeling listening to 'Largo' that I do when listening to Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks' or Joni Mitchell's 'Blue.' The content is so powerful and there's so much substance. Do you think you presented your music differently on this album compared to past works?
Wow, thanks for the compliment -- good company. I love both of those records. When I look at a musician like Joni Mitchell and think of her whole career, it's daunting. I mean "career" is the wrong word, it's more what a mentor of mine from Los Angeles, the late Fred Myrow, referred to as a "life in music." You want to make a life out of music because you need to, not because you want to be successful or whatever. If you're like Joni Mitchell, you make this series of records that very clearly traces your growth and experience as a human being, in this wonderfully linear way -- the earlier records like "Blue" and "For the Roses," then through "Court and Spark" and "Hijera," going on through the 1980s. There's a wonderful continuity there of her sharing her wisdom and experience with her audience with each successive record.
I'm sort of in it right now so I can't say, but my guess is that it won't be as linear for me in the long run, which is fine. There's a certain linear quality to the trio records -- documenting the development of that band. Then "Largo" for now at least occupies its own niche. It was very much about experiences I had in L.A., music I heard, emotions I absorbed and catalogued a bit on that record. It was also about Jon Brion's influence on me musically, and his musical world. I feel like there could be more that could develop from that point, from "Largo" as a beginning point. We'll see, life is long.
I can't describe your style on 'Largo' in musical terms, but rather in poetic form so I always say it's like watching a Russian ballet company dance to music inside a swinging, greasy, New York City jazz club. So, I hate to ask the question everyone always asks, but curiosity has gotten the best of me. What kind of stuff are you into these days and who are some of your major musical influences?
Well, you might have guessed lots of Joni Mitchell. Because of her incredible creative productivity -- it's kind of unmatched I think in pop music from the last 30 years -- there's all these records to discover. But each one yields so much pleasure and spiritual fulfillment that we -- my wife, Fleurine, who's a singer, and I, have discovered Joni Mitchell together -- don't let go quickly and move on to the next one. So for instance, two winters ago when we moved back to the East Coast, "Hijera" was it for three cold months, like a salve from the cold. Now it gives meaning to that period of our lives together. These days it's "Hissing of Summer Lawns." There's so much depth to her music. You have the lyrics: Each song is like a little epiphany, something she comes to that's valuable and shares with you, and then the songwriting: compelling, perfectly matched to the text. Not to get all highbrow, but it's really kind of perfect art -- complete unto itself, but not closed -- yielding fresh insights, giving you questions to ask of yourself. That's what I want from music a lot.
I also just love to feel an elemental groove, and one recent thing I picked up is the double DVD set of Led Zep(pelin), which just rocks harder than anything.
I'm curious as to how bandleaders find their members. What about Larry's, Matt's and Jorge's styles attracted you? How do you feel they augment your own sound and style?
Larry, Jorge and I came together in 1995 so we've got a real history together now -- a collection of musical experiences and a vital friendship to draw on that's priceless to me. I was and still am attracted to their willingness to go out on a limb with me, to explore something collectively. Of course, there's other more concrete factors that it's worked for so long. We come from the same group of peers at a certain time in a certain place -- New York late 1980s to 1990s -- that have a collection of musical values when approaching jazz that roughly overlap. That includes musicians like Kurt Rosenwinkel, Josh Redman, Danilo Perez, Mark Turner, Peter Bernstein and a host of others that I came up with. We all sort of fed off each other and played together. Matt was someone I had dug on records for several years, and Jon brought us together on "Largo." Immediately I felt a similar simpatico with Matt, but it was coming from a different musical locus -- great rock 'n' roll. One of the most exciting things about "Largo" for me was that with Matt and Jim Keltner, I got to occupy that world rhythmically, to call on it and let it inform my music. The opportunity hadn't arisen before that, and rock 'n' roll is something vital to me, something I love deeply. The thing was to find a way to put it in a context of improvised music; to strike that balance between a deep, elemental groove, and something more discursive that comes about in the improvisation.
No comments:
Post a Comment