Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
The Brad Mehldau Trio is bassist Larry Grenadier (left), pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Jeff Ballard. The group’s new album, Blues And Ballads, is due out June 3. (Photo: Michael Wilson)
(Photo: )It has been four years since the Brad Mehldau Trio has released an album, but for fans of the Grammy Award-winning pianist, the wait will soon be over. Nonesuch Records will release Blues And Ballads on June 3.
The album—Mehldau’s first with his trio since 2012’s Where Do You Start—finds the pianist in familiar yet fruitful territory, once again mining deeply through left-field pop and the Great American Songbook, but this time with a focus on blues and ballads.
The program includes Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl,” Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate On You,” The Beatles’ “And I Love Her” and “My Valentine,” which Paul McCartney composed for his 2012 album Kisses On The Bottom.
Mehldau’s bandmates in the trio are bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, who replaced the group’s original drummer, Jorge Rossy, in 2005. The trio’s discography comprises eight albums, including the five critically acclaimed Art Of The Trio albums with Rossy, which Nonesuch compiled as a boxed set in 2011.
In November 2015, the label released a 4-CD/8-LP collection of Mehldau’s solo performances titled 10 Years Solo Live.
Blues And Ballads is available for pre-order now at iTunes and at the Nonesuch website, where an instant download of the album track “Little Person” (composed by Jon Brion) is included with purchase.
To visit the Nonesuch website, click here.
To read a 2013 review of Brad Mehldau’s performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, click here.
—Brian Zimmerman
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
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