Joshua Redman and his trio begin a five-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard tonight. The New York Times says to expect "plenty of dynamism in the exchange" from the trio; the Village Voice says that "Redman's authoritative these days, and he's taught his team how to keep lots of balls in the air at once." The Guardian gives four stars to the saxophonist's recent concert with Brad Mehldau in London and the Mehldau Trio's own show there, citing the pianist's "remarkable contrapuntal improvising style and incisive musical intelligence."

Brad Mehldau begins the jazz series he's programmed at London's Wigmore Hall in a duo concert with Joshua Redman next week. NPR's jazz blog A Blog Supreme recently listed the pianist's recordings as the best introduction to the jazz of today, citing his 2002 Jon Brion–produced Largo as chief among them. "This album was a big one for me," said one panelist. "It fuses masterful jazz improvisation with modern rock production."

The Brad Mehldau Trio returned to the Village Vanguard in New York's Greenwich Village this past Tuesday for the first in a five-night residency of a dozen sold-out sets. "[T]here was looseness in his first set on Tuesday night, along with variety and depth of feeling," says the New York Times. "Mr. Mehldau conveyed a spruce informality, mixing impulse with erudition." By set's end, "His sound, completely luminous, filled the room." The Chicago Tribune calls last Friday's Trio performance at that city's Symphony Center "delightful," exclaiming that Mehldau's "collaboration with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard reaffirmed one's belief in the enduring viability of the jazz trio."

The Brad Mehldau Trio sets up shop tonight for a five-night residency at New York's Village Vanguard, the site of the group's most recent recordings, Live  and the Nonesuch Store exclusive MP3 collection Live: The Complete Friday Night Sets. The New York Times says that Live shows that the pianist's "peerless trio ... has the glide to elevate just about anything, including Mr. Mehldau’s savvy originals." The Village Voice declares: "Hard to beat a mix of killer chops and songbook savvy." The Guardian gives four stars to Brad's recent Wigmore Hall solo performance, calling him "the doyen of contemporary jazz pianists, an improviser whose instinctive, emotional command of the instrument is complemented by a formidable intellect."

Brad Mehldau will be joined by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter at Carnegie Hall tonight for the world premiere of his new work Love Songs. The piece, written for von Otter, is Brad's third Carnegie Hall commission for voice and song; it is set to poems by Sara Teasdale, Philip Larkin, and e. e. cummings, each poet with a different perspective on love. Mehldau and von Otter will perform a number of American popular songs as well. On the first half of the program, pianist Bengt Forsberg will accompany von Otter on works by Sibelius, Hahn, and Schumann, and perform piano works by Ravel and Dukas.

London's Wigmore Hall has announced the first group of concerts that Brad Mehldau has programmed as artistic director of an annual, two-season jazz series there. Scheduled for the first season, 2009-10, are two solo events, a duo concert with label mate Joshua Redman, a Brad Mehldau Trio concert, and a recital with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, with whom he premieres his Love Songs tomorrow at Carnegie Hall.

While 2008 may go down as one of the more turbulent years in recent (or distant) memory, or, more optimistically, a time of change, there is much to celebrate in the year in music. Nonesuch artists across all genres have contributed to that and, accordingly, have made their way onto many critics' lists of the year's best. For the final Nonesuch Journal article of the year, we offer an overview of just some of that year-end critical praise.

Congratulations to Brad Mehldau, who received the prestigious Edison Jazz Music Award (the Dutch Grammy) in the Jazz International category for his latest Nonesuch release, his Trio's Live recording from New York's Village Vanguard. At the ceremony, held at the Frits Philipshall in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on November 28, Brad performed Lennon/McCartney's "Martha My Dear," which the Trio recording on their 2005 Nonesuch album, Day Is Done.

The Grammy nominations are in, and a big congratulations goes out to the many Nonesuch artists whose work has been recognized by the Recording Academy, the organization behind the awards. Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Brad Mehldau, Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Toumani Diabaté, Youssou N'Dour, Stephen Sondheim, Jonny Greenwood, and Isabel Bayrakdarian were all recognized for their recent Nonesuch releases, as were producers Danger Mouse and Judith Sherman for their work on Nonesuch albums this year.

Brad Mehldau shared the bill with jazz greats Ellis Marsalis with his Quintet and McCoy Tyner with his Trio for the final performance of the season at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday night. The Los Angeles Times describes it as "an evening of seriously dynamic piano jazz, each artist taking a different path to a similar destination" and credits Brad with setting "the evening's tone with a delicately filigreed solo set ..." The review cites as "one of the evening's standouts" Brad's "haunting, occasionally dissonant cover of Nick Drake's 'River Man.'"

Brad Mehldau takes a night away from his Trio tour to play a special duo set with label mate Joshua Redman tomorrow night at the Christuskirche in Mannheim, Germany. The Financial Times, in its review of the Trio's recent show at London's Barbican, says of Brad: "Mehldau creates gently undulating soundscapes of gradually gathering intensity. Starting with the simplest of motifs, he develops an intricate tapestry of melodic details, chordal voicings and dense cross-rhythms." The Guardian calls the Trio's concert take on Sufjan Stevens' "Holland" "a lambent, implausibly lovely improvisation."

Brad Mehldau has kicked off the European leg of his fall tour with his Trio, whose performance earlier this week at London's Barbican earned four stars from both The Times (UK) and The Guardian. "From the opening left-hand phrases of Brad Mehldau's 'Dream Sketch,' there wasn't a finger out of place in two hours of music-making," reports The Times. "This was a trio whose members were in perfect accord with one another ... [and] demonstrated a level of telepathic co-operation rare not only in jazz, but music of any sort." Metro concurs, adding: "The Brad Mehldau Trio is the quintessential modern piano outfit."