9. Eulogy for George Hanson 9:23
10. Aquaman 4:49
Brad Mehldau, piano Larry Grenadier, bass Jeff Ballard, drums
All songs composed by Brad Mehldau, published by Werther Music (BMI)
ODE is a collection of originals that I wrote specifi cally for my trio with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. I feel that what they bring to the music in the performance here is inseparable from the tunes themselves. Most of the time I have a rough idea of a direction one of my tunes will take, and some of that may be on the page. Often, though, I am not very sure about how the tune should unfold as far as playing it together. There are lots of questions I don’t have an answer to the fi rst time we look at it together: How literal or not literal should the rhythmic delineation be? How concrete or abstract should the harmonic movement be stated throughout the improvisation? Is it a tune that will stay close to the feeling of the opening thematic statement, will it traverse all over the place as we improvise together, or is it something in between? What kind of texture should be on the drums as a starting point: something “wetter” and cymbal-driven, or something dryer, perhaps with Jeff using mallets, hands, or a mixture of both, with the snares off ? What amount of activity do we want from the bass: constant movement that propels the whole band forward; very little movement, thinking and playing more sporadically; or some mixture of both at different times? What about register on the bass: Where will a melody I wrote for him speak the best in the context of everything? I will have ideas about these things ahead of time, but the choice is made collectively, or to be more specifi c: The particular way in which Larry and Jeff approach something, in praxis, is what will win all of us over.
That way changes as we go along with a tune, so I like to let the tune develop into something before we record it. At a certain point, the tune feels “ripe” – it feels exciting and dynamic; it feels that we are all expressing ourselves without too much impedi- ment; it feels like we have internalized the structure, harmony, etc. of the tune to a point where we are not in our heads too much. Most importantly, it has wound up turning
into something that I could not have imagined when I wrote the tune, and the part that I couldn’t have imagined is what Jeff and Larry made. Having a band and playing jazz means different things to different people, but that’s what it is for me – I’ve seen some really cool bands where the leader is strict and tells the other players pretty specifi cally how he or she wants it to be, even in the improvisation. I try to stay away from that rigidity if I can, though, and perhaps it’s most challenging on your own tunes, because you may carry more specifi c ideas that you’re wedded to, about what you wrote and how it should be heard. Ideally for me it’s democratic, veering towards anarchic, and being the leader means mostly setting the agenda – bringing in the material – and, yes, having a kind of “veto” power: If I resolutely feel something isn’t working I will strike it down unilaterally, so to speak. I’m wary of that, though, because it might be cutting off a shoot before something has time to blossom, just because there is an initial awkwardness or unfamiliarity.
As I went along writing these tunes, I kept on fi nding that, to the extent that they were about anything, they were about something else than all the buzzing between my own ears – or better said, about someone else: Most of them are tributes to others, and I began to think of them as odes to the extent that the odes call to mind poems that might be sung; in our case here it’s the singing only without all those pesky words. Touching on several of them quickly:
“M.B.” (for Michael Brecker) is as it says: It was written about six months after he passed away, as I was refl ecting on how he affected me as a musician from an early age, right up until the time I was blessed to play with him near the end of his life. It might not be obvious, but his spirit is in the harmony of the tune, the contours of the melody, and the relatively high heat of the performance.
“Ode” is the “meta” tune – an ode to odes.
“Dream Sketch” is the lone solipsist of the bunch. It’s an ode to one of my own dreams, or, more specifi cally: I dreamt the tune and woke up and immediately wrote it down. I have tried with various degrees of success to write down stuff I dream and of course most of the time it’s lost or mangled; sometimes I grab an idea that will then lead to something that I fl esh out in full consciousness. In this case, I got down on paper more or less what I dreamt when I awoke from an afternoon nap, which may have to do with the fact that the theme of the tune is quite simple and short and doesn’t develop much. That had never happened before, and it was a happy rest of the afternoon.
“Twiggy” is an ode to the joy I’ve experienced with my wife, Fleurine. Twiggy – the model from the ’60s? It’s a nickname for her I can’t take credit for, alas; it was given to her years ago by the great bassist Christian McBride when they played together – Fleurine is a singer. Christian is one of those guys who will fi nd a nickname for someone that sticks and makes you laugh. When I met her and she shared it with me, I bogarted it from Christian and continued to use it.
“Kurt Vibe” is for the guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. He’s been a big inspiration to me over the years, listening to his bands, his records, and getting to play with him. As I wrote this one, I thought of Kurt’s writing, and also imagined him playing the progressively denser chords on the guitar, with that dark, enveloping sound he has.
“Stan the Man” is a quick affair and features Jeff soloing. “Stan” and “Bob” are two alter- ego characters that Jeff and I step into on the road to pass the time. Stan and Bob play golf, wear Hawaiian shirts, drink martinis, and say specious things about jazz like, “That
Yardbird could really blow the tenor sax!”
“Eulogy for George Hanson” is an ode to the character played by Jack Nicholson in the 1969 movie Easy Rider. George has been brutally murdered by rednecks during the night. His friends Wyatt and Bill carry on, but the movie becomes more solemn and strange after that and never recovers its lightness – a metaphor for the end of the ’60s. The mystical, sacred mood of the tune and the free improvised approach was inspired after seeing the movie again.
“Aquaman” is an ode to my favorite character from the Saturday morning cartoon I watched as a kid in the 1970s, Super Friends. All of the superheroes would meet in the Hall of Justice at the beginning of the show – Batman and Robin, the Wonder Twins, Wonder Woman and of course Superman were all great, but I dug Aquaman because he kept a lower profi le and could talk to dolphins.
“Days of Dilbert Delaney” is an ode to my son, Damien, and the relatively simple tune conveys the joy and wonder I felt when he came into our lives and I began to know him.
Again, these tunes really came alive when Larry and Jeff put their vibe on them, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to make music with them for a few years now. That’s the music that’s presented here, and fi nally, I thank you the listener, with gratitude, for joining us.
—Brad Mehldau, January 2012
Produced by Brad Mehldau
All tracks except 3, 8 & 10 recorded November 17, 2008 Tracks 3, 8 & 10 recorded April 19, 2011
Recorded by James Farber at Avatar Studios, New York, NY Assistant Engineers: Akihiro Nishimura (2008), Fernando Lodeiro (2011)
Mixed by James Farber at Sear Sound, New York, NY Assistant Engineers: David Schoenwetter, Chris Allen
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York, NY
Design by John Gall Photography by Michael Wilson
I’d like to thank Larry, Jeff, James Farber, Greg Calbi, Bob Hurwitz and everyone at None- such, Scott and Tom and everyone at IMN, Dan Coleman at A Side Music, and last but defi nitely not least, my wife, Fleurine.
Production Coordinator: Tom Korkidis
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz
www.bradmehldau.com www.nonesuch.com
Nonesuch Records Inc., a Warner Music Group Company, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104. π & © 2012 Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States. Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.
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