Brad Mehldau Trio - Anything Goes on CD

Description

On Anything Goes, pianist Brad Mehldau sounds looser in the pocket than he has done in a long time in returning to the ruminative piano trio format with which he made his reputation. This comes after his so-so excursion into atmospheric pop production (Largo). In applying some of his quirkiest personal touches to jazz and pop standards, he also sounds--no offence intended--more awake. Hooking up with his longstanding rhythm mates, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, Mehldau offsets his patented lyrical touches with antic minimalist strokes, bold vamps, and high-stepping two-hand strategies. Alternately spiky and seductive, his unaccompanied playing on an initially languid "Get Happy" is a winning case of the left hand pretending not to know what the right hand is doing. Reharmonising Charles Chaplin's "Smile" with dense harmonic clouds, he obliterates that hoary melody. There's another sighing Radiohead treatment, "Everything in its Right Place" and an attempt at enlivening Paul Simon's "Still Crazy (After All These Years)" but it's his happy time with Thelonious Monk's "Skippy" that tells us that his best may be yet to come. --Lloyd Sachs, Product description CD: Brad Mehldau Trio,Anything Goes