Wednesday, September 07, 2005  

Photo taken on July 17, 2005, at the Teatro Morlacchi in Perugia, Italy.

Brad Mehldau
"She's Leaving Home"
Day Is Done
(Nonesuch, 2005)

One of the highlights of my summer was spending a week in Perugia, Italy, at the Umbria Jazz Festival. The music was good, natch, but even better was the setting: a medieval hillside city with enough ancient nooks & crannies to make you think you were still stepping in Roman times (donning a heavily soiled toga helped). Shows were held in cafes, restaurants, and on the street, but also inside the dungeon-like walls of the Rocca Paolina (a half-ruined, 16th-century papal fortress) and two stunning opera houses: Teatro Morlacchi (18th century) and Teatro Pavone (19th century).

I saw many hot shows at the Teatro Morlacchi--not just musically but also temperature-wise. This gorgeous place holds its hot air like a government official. While sitting in the Morlacchi I felt like I was in a fancy schvitz (minus doughy men in tiny towels who have no problem displaying a lil' bit o' "brain"). Sometimes it felt like sweaty me spent as much time dappin' my brow and trying to stay awake as I did taking blurry pics & listening to tunes. (Superwarm temps + pleasant music + giant pasta/meat meals + 27 beers/wines = night-night time for CP.)

One of the best shows I saw at the Morlacchi was by the Brad Mehldau Trio on the festival's closing night. No one who saw this show could rely on facile Bill Evans comparisons anymore; instead critics needed to create new facile comparisons, like this one I just made up: Imagine Oscar Peterson playing Thelonious Monk without the latter's rhythmic choppiness but with full knowledge of his idiosyncratic harmonies and melodies. Mehldau spun knotty yet long-ass right-hand lines with amazing precision and speed while his left-hand seemed to go just as fast in the opposite direction. It was strange, difficult, wonderous music.

This performance was by the new Mehldau trio, with drummer Jeff Ballard in for Jorge Rossy; bassist Larry Grenadier remains. The group makes its recorded debut on Day Is Done, which comes out September 27. The CD isn't nearly as odd sounding as the concert I heard, but that's probably for the best---yet the disc is still filled with complex, smart music. Beautiful, too, as can be heard on this Beatles cover, "She's Leaving Home."

Preorder Day Is Done from Amazon.

Posted by CP | Link |

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