Brad Mehldau News

Brad Mehlau's agenda soon became apparent at the 7/25 Sotheby's solo concert. He did not show up intending to play classical music, jazz, or even pop.

Wigmore Hall, London's home from home to the classical chamber music elite, became a curious uptown outpost of the Jazz Festival this week, as Brad Mehldau packed it out on two successive evenings: a solo recital and a gig with his regular trio, featuring Larry Grenadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums.

At last, a book about music that doesn't impose any stylistic constraints-or, perhaps most importantly, any geographic ones.

There was a time in the 1970s and early 80s when the jazz -averse, if they wanted to show why jazz couldn't touch the punch of pop or rock, would rest their case on the fragile murmurings of the acoustic piano trio.

I have worked with music since 1999, first as a wannabe journalist at university, then as a real one, covering the local and international jazz scene in Barcelona, where I went to produce records and set up shows.

SOME jazz soloists play with great immediacy, as if they fear each moment might be their last.