Sunday, August 05, 2007
(11:59 AM) | Brad:
Weekend Jazz
There's been a void in my life, perhaps as big as the one in yours. The absence of our weekly feature Friday/Weekend Jazz has been felt across the internet. Things almost shut down for a while. Thankfully, somebody uploaded a fat load of porn on PornTube, and things were rescued.I missed a week, but I have an excuse. I've been absolutely obsessed with a track that I simply could not find through my normal means -- i.e., BitTorrent, ITunes, used CD shops, etc. For a week, I refused simply to buy the CD with the track I wanted so badly, on sheer principle. That principle being, surely I could find it cheaper elsewhere. After two or three weeks of vain searches, I finally gave up last night. It helped that it was my anniversary, and my wife told me to pick out something I wanted as a gift.
She got a nice, big potted plant for her office. And I got Brad Mehldau's 2004 CD Live in Tokyo. If you think we're cheap on the gifts, you will be even more scandalized to learn that (a) the bartender did not let us pay for our celebratory beers -- a toe-tinglingly number of Westmalle Triples, if you must know, which, Jesus Christ on a stick, are expensive in San Francisco -- and (b) we somehow managed to become immediate friends with a stranger at the bar who insisted that he pay for our dinner. It was a splendid anniversary, made all the more splendid by its being so ridiculously cheap. For a moment, I forgot I was not especially enjoying myself in San Francisco.
Enough about me, though. The reason I've been so keen on this CD is its much ballyhooed 20-minute rendition of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." Intrigued? Forgive me for the fairly shoddy .mp3 quality here, but hey, it's a huge freakin' file and had to be tamed. Take a listen before Nonesuch sends us the cease & desist letter.
After that, if you think to yourself it was a one-off, that surely Radiohead could never be turned into jazz again, we have the Brad Mehldau Trio rip into Radiohead's "Exit Music (For a Film) -- on their The Art of the Trio, Vol. 4: Back At the Village Vanguard.
Both songs take a while to get going, like many a great jazz number. Both are worth your while. And both are vital examples of why jazz is still alive.
Speaking of which, for those of you in the Bay Area, James Carter is bringing his sax to Yoshi's later this month. I've never seen him live, but I'm definitely there for at least one show. Tickets are pretty cheap, and there are enough shows that there should be plenty of room. In other words, hope to see some of you there.
