He's a complete musician originating from a combination of the Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett traditions, but over the years he has developed a very personal musical persona. The Florida-born pianist Brad Mehldau starts with, like many others, a classical piano education before making the move to jazz. As a sideman he gets a lot of experience in the bands of Jimmy Cobb, Cecil Payne and Joshua Redman. He establishes his name with a string of beautiful albums with his own trio. The Art of the Trio - Volume 1 to 5, recorded in, among other places, the American jazz club The Village Vanguard, proved to be his big breakthrough. His recent CD Live in Tokyo comprises a live solo concert, in which he interprets music by diverging composers like George and Ira Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Nick Drake and the band Radiohead.
