Places (Brad Mehldau album)

2000 studio album by Brad Mehldau

Places

Studio album by

Brad Mehldau

Released| September 5, 2000
Recorded| January 24 & 25 and March 24 & 25, 2000
Studio| Mad Hatter Studio (Los Angeles)
Genre| Jazz
Length| 69:23
Label| Warner Bros.
9362-47693-2
Producer| Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau chronology
| Art of the Trio 4: Back at the Vanguard
(1999)  | Places
(2000)  | Progression: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 5
(2000)

|
|

Places is an album by Brad Mehldau, released on the Warner Bros. label in 2000.[1][2]

## Background

[edit]

Mehldau described the influence of James Joyce's Ulysses on the album being "cyclical in design, with a theme that began the record and returned at the ending, just as Odysseus's journey was a circular one in which he eventually arrived home".[3]

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz| [4]
Sputnikmusic| 3.8/5[5]

AllMusic awarded the album 4½ stars and in its review by Richard S. Ginell, stated "the album is about the constancy of his personality and musical language, taking all of your personal mental baggage with you wherever you travel. This is an important album, one that anyone interested in piano jazz ought to check out".[1] On All About Jazz, David Adler noted "Each piece is named for a particular place (hence the title), which Mehldau attempts to represent in musical terms. In short, Places is a concept album, and a particularly effective one. For the most part, Mehldau holds his prodigious chops in check, preferring instead to conjure moods and memories with subtle nuances".[6] JazzTimes reviewer, Bill Shoemaker commented "In addition to being a technically dazzling pianist, Mehldau has an arch sense of nuance; by changing the touch of a single note or introducing a single beat's rest in a long serpentine line, Mehldau can turn a smile or a frown upside down".[7]

## Track listing

[edit]

All compositions by Brad Mehldau.

1. "Los Angeles" - 5:21
2. "29 Palms" - 5:09
3. "Madrid" - 6:07
4. "Amsterdam" - 3:38
5. "Los Angeles II" - 5:18
6. "West Hartford" - 5:39
7. "Airport Sadness" - 4:48
8. "Perugia" - 3:52
9. "A Walk in the Park" - 5:59
10. "Paris" - 6:30
11. "Schloss Elmau" - 6:32
12. "Am Zauberberg" - 7:07
13. "Los Angeles (Reprise)" - 3:28

## Personnel

[edit]

* Brad Mehldau \- piano
* Larry Grenadier \- bass (tracks 1, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 13)
* Jorge Rossy \- drums (tracks 1, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 13)

## Credits

[edit]

* Produced by Brad Mehldau
* Engineered by Bernie Kirsch
* Mastering by Andrew Garver
* Art direction and design by Lawrence Azerrad
* Photography by Michael Lewis

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Ginell, Richard S. "Brad Mehldau Places \- Review". Allmusic. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
2. ^ "Discography of Brad Mehldau". Retrieved January 24, 2014.
3. ^ Mehldau, Brad (2023). Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part One. Equinox. p. 201\. ISBN 978-1-80050-313-7.
4. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 989\. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
5. ^ "Brad Mehldau: Places". Sputnikmusic. sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
6. ^ Adler, D., All About Jazz Review, October 1, 2000
7. ^ Shoemaker, B., Brad Mehldau Places Review, JazzTimes, December 2000

* v
* t
* e

Brad Mehldau

Studio albums|

* Consenting Adults (1994)
* Introducing Brad Mehldau (1995)
* The Art of the Trio Volume One (1996)
* Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz (1996)
* Songs: The Art of the Trio Volume Three (1998)
* Elegiac Cycle (1999)
* Places (2000)
* Largo (2002)
* Anything Goes (2002)
* House on Hill (2005)
* Day Is Done (2005)
* Metheny Mehldau
* Metheny/Mehldau Quartet (2005)
* Love Sublime (2006)
* Highway Rider (2009)
* Love Songs (2010)
* Modern Music (2010)
* Ode (2011)
* Where Do You Start (2011)
* Variations on a Melancholy Theme (2013)
* Mehliana: Taming the Dragon (2014)
* Blues and Ballads (2014)
* Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (2016)
* After Bach (2017)
* Seymour Reads the Constitution! (2018)
* Finding Gabriel (2018)
* Suite: April 2020 (2020)
* Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles (2020)
* Jacob’s Ladder (2022)
* The Folly of Desire (2022)
* After Bach II (2024)
* Après Fauré (2024)
* Solid Jackson (2024)

Live albums|

* New York-Barcelona Crossing, Volumen 1 (1993)
* New York-Barcelona Crossing, Volumen 2 (1993)
* When I Fall in Love (1993)
* Live at the Village Vanguard: The Art of the Trio Volume Two (1997)
* Art of the Trio 4: Back at the Vanguard (1999)
* Progression: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 5 (2000)
* Live in Tokyo (2003)
* Brad Mehldau Trio Live (2006)
* Live in Marciac (2006)
* Long Ago and Far Away (2007)
* Nearness (2011)
* 10 Years Solo Live (2014)

Books|

* Formation (2023)

Related articles|

* Discography

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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