Metheny and Mehldau (and Grenadier and Ballard)
"I feel like I'm on the catwalk up here with all these cameras," pianist Brad Mehldau said from the stage of Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium Wednesday night as the flash photography continued. "Why don't we pretend I'm Alfred Brendel instead of some jazz musician?"
Until that point, Mehldau had been doing a pretty good imitation of an impeccably capable classical player in harmonically ravishing duets with guitarist Pat Metheny and then with a quartet filled out by the consistently inventive rhythm section of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. Near the end of a month-long tour, the foursome was performing music they recorded in 2005, for last year's Metheny Mehldau and this year's Metheny Mehldau Quartet with technically awesome neoclassic cool.
The tunes may eventually grow on us, but the focus was definitely on Mehldau's subtle impressionism and Metheny's fast, fluid guitar line drawings. But lots of notes didn't necessarily add up to a transcendent experience. Metheny mixed things up by switching from his main instrument, an Ibanez jazz box, to acoustic guitar for the duet titled "Make Peace." He whipped out his forty-two-string, triple-necked Pikasso electric guitar for the aptly titled "Sound of Water." He also slung on his guitar synth for "Ring of Life" and "Towards the Light" (a rocking change of pace), using the same thin trumpet tone for each. Which was a little odd, considering he has an entire digital orchestra's worth of sounds at his fingertips.
From the funky "A Night Away" to the introspective "Secret Beach," the group certainly covered a lot more stylistic and emotional ground than most classical players would in an evening. So what's the crime in being a mere jazz great?