Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
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
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
Apr 22, 2025 11:50 AM
Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
