Jazz / Jazz-Pop; Contemporary Jazz
Recorded: April 2-8, 2002, Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California
In the most enigmatic project up to this point in his career, Brad Mehldau explores conflicting aesthetics, sometimes in tracks positioned next to each other, and occasionally within the confines of a single performance. A spare simplicity governs much of the album, emphasized by almost puritanical horn arrangements -- long notes, mournful triadic chords. After acknowledging these episodes with childlike figurations on the piano, Mehldau then builds his solos along more dissonant lines, which invariably end up enhancing the mood. But then there are tracks like "Dropjes," whose electronic effects gnash angrily at the piano, or "Free Willy," on which putty attached to the instrument's low strings allows Mehldau to unleash a feral improvisation, with lines that suggest scurrying rodents more than bebop blowing. Producer Jon Brion stimulated much of this adventurism, at times diving directly into the mix with his guitar synth or Chamberlin keyboard. But what intrigues most about Largo in the end is the perspective it offers on Mehldau, whose playing here is, as always, intelligent, perhaps a bit cerebral, and now open as well to sonic exotica.
---Robert L. Doerschuk, allmusic
Brad Mehldau - vibraphone, piano
Phillip Yao - French horn
Daniel Kelley - French horn
Joseph Meyer - French horn
Jerry Folsom - French horn
William Reichenbach - trombone
George B. Thatcher - trombone
Kenneth Kugler - trombone
Steve Kujala - flute
Dave Shostac - flute
Gary Gray - clarinet
Emile Bernstein - clarinet
Jon Clark - oboe
Earle Dulmer - oboe
Peter Mandell - bassoon
Rose Corrigan - bassoon
Jim Keltner - vibraphone, piano, drums, percussion
Jon Brion - piano, guitar, percussion
Larry Grenadier - acoustic bass
Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz - acoustic bass
Justin Meldal-Johnsen - electric bass
Matt Chamberlain - drums, tabla, shaker, percussion
Victor Indrizzo - drums, percussion
Jorge Rossy - drums |
