Artist: Brad Mehldau
Album: Jacob's Ladder
Genre: Post-Bop, Contemporary Jazz
Label: Nonesuch
Released: 2022
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Maybe as His Skies Are Wide (3:43)
- Herr und Knecht (Master and Slave) (7:48)
- (Entr'acte) Glam Perfume (5:45)
- Cogs in Cogs I - Dance (4:11)
- Cogs in Cogs II - Song (4:02)
- Cogs in Cogs III - Double Fugue (4:31)
- Tom Sawyer (7:44)
- Vou correndo te encontrar/Racecar (5:05)
- Jacob's Ladder I - Liturgy (1:27)
- Jacob's Ladder II - Song (11:30)
- Jacob's Ladder III - Ladder (4:19)
- Heaven: I. All Once. II - Life Seeker. III - Wurm. IV - Epilogue: It Was a Dream But I Carry It Still. (10:07)
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Brad Mehldau pushes far beyond the acoustic jazz he is known for on 2022's prog rock-inspired Jacob's Ladder. Even with his past forays into classical and exploratory jazz, the pianist's choice to dip into the kinetic '70s and '80s rock of bands like Rush (he reworks several of their songs here) is an unexpected and eyebrow-raising move. That said, Mehldau has explored pop/rock songs in the past, famously applying his deeply introspective and harmonically nuanced style to tracks by Radiohead, Nirvana, and other iconic bands. While Jacob's Ladder continues this iconoclastic trajectory, it is much more than an intriguing covers album, as Mehldau weaves together several finely curated cover songs with his own ambitious compositions, including two classical-influenced three-part suites. There's also a deeply philosophical bent to the record that's centered around Mehldau's feelings about God and spirituality. Along the way, he showcases a handful of equally boundary-pushing performers including vocalist Becca Stevens, saxophonist Joel Frahm, and singer/mandolinist Chris Thile, the latter of whom joins Mehldau for a particularly faithful rendition of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." Though piano remains Mehldau's primary instrument of choice here, he also plays a variety of analog synths, including Moogs, Korgs, and other sundry electric instruments. Of his original songs on the album, "Herr und Knecht" is perhaps the most prog-sounding, built around a heavy bass-and-drum groove in an odd time signature that Mehldau accents with fuzzy, laser-tone synths. More atmospheric is "Vou correndo te encontrar/Racecar," a melodic, Brazilian-inflected reworking of Periphery's "Racecar" that magically straddles the line between the languid '70s work of Caetano Veloso and the shimmering style of Yes. Although Jacob's Ladder is one of the more idiosyncratic albums in Mehldau's discography, there's enough sophisticated and delicately rendered piano work here to appeal to his longtime fans.
Review by Matt Collar