By Adam Feibel
Brad Mehldau’s latest album is called
Variations on a Melancholy Theme and features the pianist and composer performing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Combining classical form and jazz harmonization, the album comprises a theme and 11 variations, followed by a cadenza, a postlude and an encore.
“I imagine it as if Brahms woke up one day and had the blues,” Mehldau says. “The theme itself has a wistful character, perhaps a feeling of resignation. There is some sense of finality and ending to it when heard for the first time already. So as I composed, a narrative challenge emerged namely, how to embark on a story that begins with a conclusion. While the theme evokes melancholy, I let it be used as a springboard for other happy, wild, violent, and reckless emotions as the variations progress.”
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By Adam Feibel Steve J. Sherman
Eight acclaimed jazz pianists will perform as part of Steinway’s fundraising concert for the Jazz Foundation of America’s COVID-19 Musicians’ Emergency Fund.
Taking place on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. ET, the prerecorded concert called
Eight x 88 will feature solo and duet performances by Fred Hersch, Christian Sands, Sullivan Fortner, Kris Davis, Aaron Diehl, Orrin Evans, Aaron Goldberg and Kevin Hays.
The pianists have interpreted a mix of songs by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Frank Loesser, Stevie Wonder and more.
The Jazz Foundation of America is a New York-based not-for-profit organization that has served the jazz community for 32 years. The JFA created the COVID-19 Musician’s Emergency Fund last year to offer urgent assistance to the music community during the pandemic.