Brad Mehldau - Largo (Remastered) (2002/2023)

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Brad Mehldau - Largo (Remastered) (2002/2023)

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Largo was recorded in 2001 and is the first record of Mehldau’s that departs from either the piano trio or solo format. It can be seen as the culmination of musical experiences that he gathered while living in Los Angeles, most notably the music he heard at Largo, a club in Hollywood he went to regularly and pays tribute to in the title of the record.

Mehldau says, “I heard a lot of terrific singer-songwriters there for the first time – people like Rufus Wainright, Fiona Apple, Elliot Smith and Aimee Mann. I got re-introduced to how beautiful a good pop song can be through hearing them. Its depth is more about pairing something down, chiseling it into a strong, succinct statement – very different than jazz, which for me is often about going out on a limb and staying there.” Jon Brion, who has worked with those musicians variously as a sideman, producer, or songwriting collaborator, made a strong impression on Mehldau in his weekly engagement at Largo.

The two met there and over the next few years and developed a musical friendship that eventually resulted in ‘Largo,’ with Jon Brion producing. It is a blend of two aesthetics that happily overlap: Mehldau’s jazz improvisation and Brion’s creative, rich production. The album is wide-ranging in texture and big in scale: Woodwind or brass ensembles are on several tracks, and one feature of the record is a heavy emphasis on powerful drums – Matt Chamberlain and veteran rock master Jim Keltner are the core rhythm on most of the album, often simultaneously playing, like on the cover of ‘Paranoid Android,’ whose middle section becomes a monster rock affair.

Still, Jon Brion wisely keeps Mehldau’s piano at the center of things sonically and conceptually throughout the record; it never gets swallowed up in the mix, but hovers above and around the proceedings, occupying its own space. The opener, ‘When it Rains,’ is emblematic of the record. It combines the paired down simplicity of a pop song with the ‘out on a limb’ aesthetic of Mehldau’s improvisation. The effect on the listener is strong and directly emotional, and leaves you wanting more.

"In the most enigmatic project up to this point in his career, Brad Mehldau explores conflicting aesthetics, sometimes in tracks positioned next to each other, and occasionally within the confines of a single performance. A spare simplicity governs much of the album, emphasized by almost puritanical horn arrangements – long notes, mournful triadic chords. After acknowledging these episodes with childlike figurations on the piano, Mehldau then builds his solos along more dissonant lines, which invariably end up enhancing the mood. But then there are tracks like "Dropjes," whose electronic effects gnash angrily at the piano, or "Free Willy," on which putty attached to the instrument's low strings allows Mehldau to unleash a feral improvisation, with lines that suggest scurrying rodents more than bebop blowing. Producer Jon Brion stimulated much of this adventurism, at times diving directly into the mix with his guitar synth or Chamberlin keyboard. But what intrigues most about Largo in the end is the perspective it offers on Mehldau, whose playing here is, as always, intelligent, perhaps a bit cerebral, and now open as well to sonic exotica." (Robert L. Doerschuk, AMG)

Brad Mehldau, piano, synthesizer, vibraphone
Larry Grenadier, bass
Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz, bass
Justin Meldal-Johnson, bass
Matt Chamberlain, drums
Jorge Rossy, drums
Jim Keltner, drums
Victor Indrizzo, drums, percussion
Jon Brion, guitar, guitar synth, piano percussion

Recorded April 2–8, 2001, at Studio B, Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood, California
Produced by Jon Brion

Digitally remastered