Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile have spent the past week in Europe on separate solo tours. The two come together for a special duo show at Wigmore Hall in London tonight, as part of the pianist's curatorship of the venue's Jazz Series. "Mehldau often applies his hypnotic improv approach to Broadway standards, bebop, folk-pop classics or the music of Radiohead," says the Guardian, "and Thile's fast-flowing long lines, and cherishing of catchy themes within the loosest spontaneous flights fit that very compatibly." Also in the Guardian, Mehldau has written an article on wisdom in music.
Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile have spent the past week in Europe on separate solo tours. Those tours now converge as the two come together for a special duo show at Wigmore Hall in London tonight. The concert is a continuation of the pianist's curatorship of Wigmore Hall's Jazz Series in 2011, in which he has invited friends from across the musical spectrum to participate in a variety of duo performances exploring the limits of improvisatory and experimental contemporary composition, in addition to more conventional work in the jazz tradition.
The Guardian offers a look at what to expect at tonight's concert.
"Thile's stylistic sweep mirrors that of the classically trained Mehldau, who has not only explored the chamber jazz piano lineage of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, but worked with symphony orchestras, opera singers, and experimental pop producer Jon Brion," writes the Guardian's John Fordam. "Mehldau often applies his hypnotic improv approach to Broadway standards, bebop, folk-pop classics or the music of Radiohead—and Thile's fast-flowing long lines, and cherishing of catchy themes within the loosest spontaneous flights fit that very compatibly."
Read more at guardian.co.uk.
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Also in the Guardian, Mehldau was recently commissioned to write an article for the paper. His piece, on wisdom in music, was published today.
"Music often seems to suggest an emotion or a state of being," writes Mehldau; "we reach a consensus, for example, that one piece of music expresses carefree youth, while another expresses world-weary wisdom. But is music properly expressing anything?"
Read what he has to say at guardian.co.uk.
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Following tonight's performance, the label mates go their separate ways to conclude their solo tours this weekend. Brad Mehldau performs at the Oper Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany, on Saturday, and at the Auditorio de Gerona in Gerona, Spain, on Sunday. Chris Thile stays on in England for the remainder of his tour, performing at Eric's in Liverpool on Saturday and at The Greystones in Sheffield on Sunday.
For more tour information, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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To pick up a copy of Brad Mehldau's latest solo album, the Live in Marciac CD/DVD, and to reserve a copy of his forthcoming album with pianist Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, Modern Music, due out next week, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout. Also in the Nonesuch Store is Chris Thile's recent due album with guitarist Michael Daves, Sleep with One Eye Open.
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