Brad is unique. He's creativity has so much to give to all of us. I do wonder the sensation both from spectators and brad playing. Brad is like flying, he is only his body and nothing else while he his playing this piece. He amazes the listeners and he gets a giant ovation. What can a man ask more for? :)
SO gosh darn beautiful. I like a lot of Brad's stuff (especially his recent Trio work, Ode is superb), and some of his older work I find is only okay. This song and concert in general prove what a mature musician he is becoming. I love his interpretations of popular music and I think that is the direction Jazz needs to be moving now. The old song book has lost a lot of its cultural relevance, as much as I still love all those classic songs.
I would add to your comment by now inclduing video games music. It sparks nostalgia for many and brilliant Aussie ensemble The Consouls has garnered a significant global fan base turning vgm into jazz (or bringing out the jazz that is just beneath the surface). Not only is the song book being updated, but they have managed to engage a (much needed) younger audience with jazz. They mostly record live eg. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FvEf3NMoX1M.htmlsi=eS_HnbY6C_sb99BR
This is just an unbelievably beautiful cover of that incredible song. Thank you so much for posting this. Just stunned by the amazing power of music and the way this musician makes the world a better place for sharing his talents. The only thing missing is the ending. Does anyone have any footage of the wrap up and cheers that must have erupted at the conclusion of Mr. Mehldau's fabulous performance? Thank you in advance if anyone does.
I'm sitting here listening to this performance with my $3,000 speakers, watching it with my own eyes, and I still can't imagine what it must have been like to be at this performance. Some things really do get lost in translation...
There used to be a full recording of this concert on RU-vid, which included the version of Smells Like Teen Spirit immediately after. I can't find it anymore :(
Bryce Johnson It was removed after some big major entertainment company launched legal proceedings against it. It was one of my favorite vids on RU-vid
I'd greatly appreciate it if you guys would check out my live acoustic piano & vocal cover of BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY, which you can find by clicking on my channel. No autotune or special effects were used in the recording. Thanks and please pardon the promo.
@SenilerGummi iv almost figured out the song... if your talking bout the intro, he is playing a constant pattern of (notes bottom to top) E A B E Ab, changing to E A B E A changing to E A C# E A, then resolving back to the 2nd then to the first. he continues this for a while, whilst playing melodies in both the left and right hands, I'm not entirely sure exactly which notes are played with which hands, i guess you can figure that out for your own style
+Shane Hagan Elegiac cycle by Mehldau is terrific, the piece paris off of places also. Brad has (like all he great artists) gone through stages, early he (anthropology) sounded like bud powell and all the greats mixed. His version of blame i on my youth is extraordinary. He studied left hand contrapuntal phrasing from classical musicians. He is equally influenced by all music and has a philosophy of questioning traditional (jazz) musical avenues. He is influenced by shubert, brahms, coltrane, charlie parker, radiohead, + the beatles.to name a few. Jarrett is also brilliant. My advice is to listen to everything you can from j.s. bach to Ornette Colman.
Brad Mehldau covered this from The Verve, and The Verve sampled its strings section from Andrew Oldham's "The Last Time", which is the orchestral version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time", which is inspired from Staple Singers' "The Last Time". When Bittersweet Symphony became a hit, The Verve faced plagiarism accusations from The Rolling Stones, even though Bittersweet Symphony doesn't share any resemblance with The Last Time. Eventually, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards took their piece of the pie, of course. In a way, The Rolling Stones stole this song from The Verve, not the other way around. Beautiful song though.
it's not true that there is "no resemblance" between Bittersweet Symphony and The Last Time... the vocal melody lines in the verses of the 2 songs ("Well it's a bitter sweet symphony this life" and "well i told you once and i told you twice") are IDENTICAL. Come by my YT channel and give a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performance of Bittersweet Symphony if you care to. Peace.
I believe this is a Liszt technique, correct me if I'm wrong. Anyways, very advanced and not many performance pianists make it to this level and a very small number of pianists are able to seamlessly incorporate this technique into their own arrangements, improvisations and compositions.
