Buddies: Birgit, Täubchen, Jakob
Score: 4 out of 5
Merch: nope
Again? Mehldau definitely, and Guiliana is the future
We have very high expectations when we arrive at our seats. The stage is built beyond the orchestra pit of the Vienna Opera, thus we are very close to the artists, and the view is perfect. Since I expect not to take any photos during the session, I take one of the empty stage.
Part 1 - Wolfgang Muthspiel: It is the first time that I hear him. I heard only the very best of him. This one hour solo performance turns out to be my personal highlight of this evening. First big surprise - absolute mastery with a looper, with which he builds on five or more voices, also with the acoustic guitar. Other stompboxes join the looper, such as an incredible octaver and an endless sustain effect, which W. Muthspiel uses very impressively for creating his complex buildings. His semiacoustic guitar is also very nice, and it is no surprise that he has that very fine ear for this crunch sound that never ends up in real distortion. All this results in a very modern solo performance that does not only live from his incredible guitar play - all these stompboxes add real value. And finally W. Muthspiel also uses nice vocal effects for his two or three songs, in which he sings (very nicely). All in all, this impresses me more than other blues-oriented performances of huge stars such as Joe B.
Part 2 - Scofield/Mehldau/Guilana: When playing in a classical Jazz Trio, you expect B. Mehldau to be on the very melodic and soft side. Not this time. As you can see in the above picture, the piano stands on the very left side to the back, while three analogue synths stand in the middle of the stage. I have never seen B. Mehldau on synths before, and in fact, the piano is rather unimportant this night. I also hear John Scofield for the first time - and he is in fact regarded as one of the most influential modern Jazz guitarists. Sadly I cannot fully connect. The combination of a twangy Telecaster with a VOX amp is far away from the classical jazz guitar setup that produces mellow tones. The style of the entire gig, in particular the sharp guitar tones combined with retro keys, reminds me somehow of Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew' sessions, but of course without the trumpet. This is very hard Jazz and more on the improvised and atonal side. Definitely very interesting, but harder to digest. B. Mehldau on the keys is a miracle as always. Many times his left hand plays the piano, while his right hand is on one of the keys - with completely detached voicing. Impossible to watch. I know Marc Guiliana from his very impressive performance on David Bowie's last album 'Blackstar'. I am not too much into drums, but his drumming is so special that I really adore it. But - there is nearly nothing for what I admire Brad Mehldau most: His capability to carry you through endless melodies with that distinct impressionistic touch. Also, while the overall sound is impeccable, this clearly is not true for the piano. Most of the time, this poor huge Bösendorfer sounds a bit like a synthetic e-piano - sorry for that, but I had this analogy in my ear. And Brad Mehldau without his trademark piano sound is just not what we were looking for. Nevermind, this is what you always have to consider when reaching out to live Jazz music - everything can be very much different than expected.
So basically we were all happy to be here, but we all hope that next time we will see Brad Mehldau again at his best.
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