I have been listening to Brad Mehldau's exceptional solo album After Bach" which largely consists of originals with 5 of Bach's Preludes & Fugues from the Well tempered Clavier thrown in. The original music is largely inspired by Bach, both in the compositions and the improvisations. However, the results are really difficult to pigeon hole. It does not really swing and the harmonic language Mehldau is using is more akin to the 20th century. There is no attempt to be ironic and you could be forgiven for thinking this music was composed by someone like Prokoviev. It is fascinating to listen to and probably the most intriguing thing I have heard Meldau do. I find some of his other solo work to be a bit wan and maybe you could argue that the number of pianists who have followed in his wake over the last 30 years have probably diluted the impact of his trios which sounded so original when they first came out. I cannot abide his efforts with electronic keyboards, whether it is an attempt to mash things up with drummer Mark Gulliana or the recent Prog-rock facsimiles which I find to be execrable. This Bach-inspired disc is something else, in my opinion. It is fascinating to listen to and also one of the best efforts I have heard where jazz has examined the Classical canon. For me, Bach is one of the towering figures in Western music and you can see why he has held the fascination of all sorts of jazz pianists from John Lewis , Jacques Loussier and Keith Jarrett. JSB is really part of the improvisor's DNA. I would suggest that none of these pianists has interrogated Bach's music to the extent of producing something quite so radical as what Melhdau has done here. This is music which really matters.
I have found it quite fascinating to juxtapose Mehldau's music with the recording Bill Evans made in the 1960 which coupled his trio with the orchestra and arrangement of Claus Ogerman where they attempted to bridge the gap between jazz and Classical music. Playing one disc after the other, the most striking difference in the mindset of the approaches that are over 50 years apart. The Evans disc includes music by some of my favourite composers such as Scriabin, Chopin and Bach as well as Granados whose work I am not too familiar with. I am fine with Evans' piano playing but the Achilles heel with this record is Ogerman's lush orchestral arrangements which diminish the music almost to the point of being "Easy Listening." I don't think some writing in 2023 would produced something so work-a-day. The arrangements are simply not robust enough and indicative of the commercial direction Verve was taking in the 1960s. By all accounts Ogerman was well respected as an arranger yet I feel it was probably not a good match for Evans in the 1960s and has not been served well by the passage of time. As a piece of music, the Mehldau record is far more challenging and understanding than where Bill Evans' concept was. Evans seems very respectful of his material whereas Brad Mehldau has a thirst to interrogate Bach's approach both using the source material and his own originals. I don't feel that Brad Mehldau was concerned whether what he was playing was jazz or not - the main point of the album was dealing with Bach's approach to music making and refracting that in an approach which reflected what has happened in music over the last 130 years. There are moments when I can take or leave his playing having been both transfixed by his playing and also been totally bored - both on disc and live in concert. However, for my money, this is probably the best thing I have heard him do. I am staggered by the music contained within "After Bach" which is sincere and genuine. I have been playing masses of piano music by Field, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Chopin , Bach and Enescu of late and this disc stands up with this music. Mehldau's record does not sound false or forced . It really is an incredible disc even if it is quite detatched from jazz. Regardless of what you want to call it, this is as genuine a development from JSB as anything by Busoni. Not sure if this is something that would appeal to anyone else on this "bored" with the exception , perhaps, of Alyn. Maybe it would be of more interest to people on the Classical board ? (There was a comment on another thread last week about Baroque music which suggested a lack of enthusiasm amongst posters here.) Those on here with a fascination with improvisation in a broader context like SA and Richard Barrett would certainly have interesting views on this disc.
I have found it quite fascinating to juxtapose Mehldau's music with the recording Bill Evans made in the 1960 which coupled his trio with the orchestra and arrangement of Claus Ogerman where they attempted to bridge the gap between jazz and Classical music. Playing one disc after the other, the most striking difference in the mindset of the approaches that are over 50 years apart. The Evans disc includes music by some of my favourite composers such as Scriabin, Chopin and Bach as well as Granados whose work I am not too familiar with. I am fine with Evans' piano playing but the Achilles heel with this record is Ogerman's lush orchestral arrangements which diminish the music almost to the point of being "Easy Listening." I don't think some writing in 2023 would produced something so work-a-day. The arrangements are simply not robust enough and indicative of the commercial direction Verve was taking in the 1960s. By all accounts Ogerman was well respected as an arranger yet I feel it was probably not a good match for Evans in the 1960s and has not been served well by the passage of time. As a piece of music, the Mehldau record is far more challenging and understanding than where Bill Evans' concept was. Evans seems very respectful of his material whereas Brad Mehldau has a thirst to interrogate Bach's approach both using the source material and his own originals. I don't feel that Brad Mehldau was concerned whether what he was playing was jazz or not - the main point of the album was dealing with Bach's approach to music making and refracting that in an approach which reflected what has happened in music over the last 130 years. There are moments when I can take or leave his playing having been both transfixed by his playing and also been totally bored - both on disc and live in concert. However, for my money, this is probably the best thing I have heard him do. I am staggered by the music contained within "After Bach" which is sincere and genuine. I have been playing masses of piano music by Field, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Chopin , Bach and Enescu of late and this disc stands up with this music. Mehldau's record does not sound false or forced . It really is an incredible disc even if it is quite detatched from jazz. Regardless of what you want to call it, this is as genuine a development from JSB as anything by Busoni. Not sure if this is something that would appeal to anyone else on this "bored" with the exception , perhaps, of Alyn. Maybe it would be of more interest to people on the Classical board ? (There was a comment on another thread last week about Baroque music which suggested a lack of enthusiasm amongst posters here.) Those on here with a fascination with improvisation in a broader context like SA and Richard Barrett would certainly have interesting views on this disc.
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