iTunes

Opening the iTunes Store.If iTunes doesn't open, click the iTunes application icon in your Dock or on your Windows desktop.
iTunes

iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection.

We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To preview and buy music from Modern Music by Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays & Patrick Zimmerli, download iTunes now.

Already have iTunes? Click I Have iTunes to open it now.

I Have iTunes Free Download
iTunes for Mac + PC

Modern Music

Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays & Patrick Zimmerli

View More By This Artist

Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download music.

iTunes Review

Modern Music, a collaboration among pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays and composer Patrick Zimmerli, blurs the line that separates classical and jazz. (All three have roots playing jazz in Connecticut as teenagers; Zimmerli is also a saxophonist, but he doesn’t perform here.) Mehldau’s work is heavily influenced by classical music, so the acclaimed pianist’s fans shouldn’t be surprised by this project. Zimmerli wrote three of the compositions and arranged the other material, which includes pieces by Mehldau, Hays, Ornette Coleman, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. The pianists perform the opener, Zimmerli’s melodic “Crazy Quilt,” with clarity and grace; there’s none of the clutter that can mark piano duos. Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” starts with grand chords that create a vibe miles from the original; later the piece’s classic melody emerges, but in a setting that evokes Romanticism more than free jazz. It’s strange to hear improvisation brought to bear on a piano arrangement of an excerpt of Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians,” but the loose fluidity shines a new light on the well-known pattern music. 

Customer Reviews

Moderately Mediocre

Don't let the title distract you. This is not modern music, it's just more tonal/triadic doodeling from two friends. I"ve heard more convincing dueling pianos by two whinos at the local bar blowing though old Billy Joel tunes. I"m not sure why they needed to call someone in to make transcriptions of these. The Reich extract sounds like a great idea, but it doesn't elicit the same feel with just pianos. The Glass,......well, really? I mean.... common, get real! This smacks of a failed vanity project. The skimpy liner notes mention that they had a Strauss piece (Metamorphosen) and Part's Tabula Rasa (!) as two transcriptions that didn't make the cut. Sadly the liner notes where just a pop magazine style interview by all involved rather than an extended essay by Mehldau. Much as I admire all the people involved, I'd have to advise anyone to pass over this. To call this sub par would be too kind! -Bz

Great recording - a mix of jazz and minimalism

Well, Boolez has burst a gasket; or maybe he's just not that into jazz. This is a wonderful recording, combining jazz and minimalism. In some ways, it's an odd combination - having excerpts from Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, and from a Philip Glass string quartet mixed in with some more standard jazz. But it works.

Mehldau is, of course, one of today's finest jazz pianists. I wasn't familiar with Kevin Hays, but they play very well together. Unlike some jazz piano duets, which sound like duels, the two pianists are in excellent synchrony here.

Listeners might find the two minimalist bits a tad jarring, but they relate to some of the other pieces, which have hints of minimalism as well.

In short, a fine recording for any fan of Brad Mehldau, or piano jazz in general. If you're more on the minimalist side, you might want to give this a listen to discover some excellent piano chops.

I love this album

Hearing these two incredibly fine pianists play off one another is a joy. I often can't tell where one stops and the other starts. It is also difficult to tell what was written out and what was improv; I believe there is some of each. It is beautiful playing of beautiful music. Fascinating use of jazz modes, too, which are based on the ancient modes, of course, especially in Elegia (probably my favorite), which gently riffs on Chopin's funeral march (March Funebre), whether because of the mode it's in (melodic minor) or because Hays was consciously invoking the Chopin. It's gorgeous. There is something of the "contemporary classical" in this recording, and the lines between jazz and classical are blurred, which I suppose led to the title. I recommend it highly!

Biography

Born: August 23, 1970 in Jacksonville, FL

Genre: Jazz

Years Active: '90s, '00s, '10s

During the '90s and into the 2000s, Brad Mehldau was one among a plethora of young jazz pianists who rose to prominence. He is one of the more absorbing and thoughtful practitioners within that idiom, and he is receptive to the idea of using material from the rock era (Paul McCartney's "Blackbird," for example). Though Mehldau's training is primarily classical, his interest in jazz began early. He played in the Hall High School jazz band of Hartford, Connecticut, winning the Berklee College of Music's...
Full Bio

Top Albums and Songs By Brad Mehldau

Listeners Also Bought

Modern Music, Brad Mehldau
 View In iTunes

Customer Ratings

Essentials

Influencers

Followers

Contemporaries

Become a fan of the iTunes and App Store pages on Facebook for exclusive offers, the inside scoop on new apps and more.