Brad Mehldau Trio

Since Täubchen and Jakob preferred not to be in Vienna this weekend, friends joined.




Buddies: Birgit, Lorenz, and Gerhard
Rating: 4/5
Merch: Their new CD 'Seymour Reads The Constitution!'
Again? Yes, I am basically on subscription ;-)


After quite a number of Brad Mehldau performances, it gets harder to write something novel. The trio, consisting of Brad Mehldau, larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard, came with a focus on their new CD, but also some songs from their 'Blues and Ballads' album. But maybe this night, the quality of a classical jazz trio truly emerged to me - again. It is always a small miracle to experience the interaction that only the classical jazz trio allows for. All three instruments mostly are in their exclusive sonic range and can be seen equal to each other. In addition the amplification of all three instruments provide for the perfect jazz sound that I prefer over smaller venues - the sound is more powerful in that way.

Konzerthaus Wien is where a modern Jazz Trio shines for me

Also after some days, it is too early to judge on the new CD, but the songs represent the state of this trio, which I personally really like. It is not for everybody on this evening, and probably it will be just Jakob and myself to continue this very nice tradition to listen to the quite unique style of Brad Mehldau and his trio. So why 'just' four out of five? The actual gig has been relatively short, and some four encores did not fully compensate, we know better, e.g. from the gig with Chris Tile. But that's nitty-gritty, it was a great evening that ended, as always in Weinzierl just perfectly.