Pure Genius

I am talking about Brad Mehldau's recent album Live in Tokyo, of course.

But it's not just that particular album - the guy is quite the jazz icon already, and amazingly, I like almost everything he does, be that with his Trio or solo - as on the Tokyo album. I was wondering how it compared to the other jazz piano solo cd's i know, i.e. Keith Jarrett. And to be honest, I feared it would be all but too similar.

But not a bit of it - while I always felt that Jarrett enjoyed himself on stage rather more than his music in a quite narcissistic, even exhibitionist kind of way, that's not at all the case with Mehldau: He seems to be genuinely interested in exploring where his music leads him to, and thanks to his well rounded classical education, he has a great deal of resources to draw upon on that journey. It most definitely shows. I guess I'll have to get his early albums as well.