Brad Mehldau
Day Is Done

Ok. Someone had to do it and take on this responsibility. I guess it's my turn. If only because I dared to say that Brad had recently become a bit bloated and presumptuous. I don't change my opinion, for whatever it's worth to the rest of humanity because in recent performances there was a clear sense of unfulfilled promises and routine masked by an incredible technique nonetheless. With this album, it's definitely the case to say that... the music changes!!!

Let's start with the title: "Day Is Done". Are you familiar with Clint Eastwood? Do you remember his '70s film "Come on, make my day", awkwardly translated into Italian as "Coraggio fatti ammazzare"? Well, "make my day" more or less means "make my day worthwhile" and "Day Is Done" is thus what you exclaim at the end of the day when you're aware of how it went anyway. Satisfied or not. The beautiful cover gives you the sensation of the title. And Brad's music contributes to this feeling of time passed, work accomplished, and results obtained. The results are all there, and the change is evident. Surely imposed by the new drummer Jeff Ballard, already a cornerstone of the Jazz Composers Collective and featured in the best east coast USA jazz recordings. I'd say that the guy has brought a breath of fresh air in approaching the tracks and has especially put Brad back in line, who now interacts a lot with the drums. In the first track "Knives Out", the story is already suggested: a medium tempo is contrasted by a highly improbable and doubled drumming, with Jeff's snare (strange-sounding) giving a "railroad" sensation; I asked my drummer, and it seems it could be a very low and highly compressed snare drum. The second track "Alfie" is a short tranquil theme, a ballad that closes in a suspended manner; typical of Brad Mehldau and his preference for suspended or minor chords, still aimed at a widespread sense of melancholy. But does this guy have a decent life? "Martha My Dear" is a delightful divertissement of solo piano that well represents "Mehldauian onanism". But that's the subject. Take it or leave it. The title track "Day Is Done" is a little jewel of 9:26 that starts (Evans also taught this) with a nice double bass solo introducing the theme and then leaves space for the piano; all solidly underpinned by Ballard who uses a very rocky drumming but perfectly suited for the new Mehldau ("Largo", do you know? If not, get it, please!!!). "Artis" shoots off at 300 per hour right from the start and is played over a super-fast bass and drums base on which the piano flutters a bit lazy before joining in and unfolding the pianistic mastery: scales upon scales with taste and interplay to spare. It reminds me of Pieranunzi from 1975, on a record from the "Jazz a confronto" series (beautiful: no one else has it anymore, but I do! Hehe!!). Anyway, excellent and valid. "Turtle Town" is a slightly but intentionally "tanguero"-flavored ballad that gives you the necessary breath after "Artis", with slightly dissonant chords that always leave you with this sense of suspension. Almost an episode from Charlie Haden's "Nocturne" for those in the know. "She's Leaving Home" is tear-jerking for Beatles lovers: a very refined and respectful cover. This piece, for me, is worth the entire album: played in 3/4 like a little waltz but with chords originating from afar. Slowly it develops and takes on a life of its own in the jazz reinterpretation. At 1:45 there's the theme's stop, light piano chords, and resumption of the rhythm section for exploration. With the attitude and caution of someone entering an unexplored cave for a hundred years and discovering notes and possible turns in a melody that one would never have suspected would be reconsidered and which, for that reason, thanks by fully unfolding. Exceptional. Well done Brad: I've been wanting to tell you that from the heart for a long time.

The two rhythms are excellent. "Granada" is a piece that, on a vaguely Spanish progression played on few chords, acts as a carpet for "extrasensory" explorations. Brad has always been closely connected to Spain: his TRUE first record (a wonderful gem), in a trio with the Jordy and Mario Rossy brothers, is Spanish (and, by the way, the author had to conduct considerable research to find and purchase it!). "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" is more played on countertimes and various fragmentations that nonetheless reveal another aspect of the trio. As it unfolds, it rides on an accompaniment that's like a sharp razor. The melody becomes better centered halfway through. Beautiful. "No Moon At All" is a final romantic ballad on which the Dexter Gordon of the best days or, better, Massimo Urbani (may God or "the law of cause and effect" or the Lord of the Great Prairies bless him) would have felt at home. Proceed steadily swingy and bluesy with flavors of modernity. The perfect piece to close an album that is a masterpiece. It's true that, as Thelonius Monk says, "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" but somehow one must communicate to other enthusiasts when something beautiful is found, right? Speaking of Clint Eastwood: what does he have to do with it? Well, Clint has always been a jazz enthusiast, he served us "Bird" (very nice and Forrest Whittaker is excellent!); his son also plays the double bass in a jazz group. For his first album as a bandleader, he wanted his dad with him and since dad doesn't play, he had him whistle. Day is done, folks. :-)V.