Largo (Brad Mehldau album) explained

Largo
Type:Studio
Artist:Brad Mehldau
Cover:Largo (album).jpg
Released:August 13, 2002
Recorded:April 2–8, 2001
Studio:Capitol Studio B (Hollywood, California)
Genre:Jazz
Label:Warner Bros.
9362 48114-2
Producer:Jon Brion
Chronology:Brad Mehldau
Prev Year:2000
Next Title:Anything Goes
Next Year:2002

Largo is an album by American pianist and composer Brad Mehldau released on the Warner Bros. label in 2002.[1] [2] The album is a departure for Mehldau's earlier straight-ahead jazz albums, instead featuring a more experimental pop-influenced sound and extensive use of session musicians.

Reception

The Guardian's John Fordham gave it a 4-star rating and observed "Mehldau is framed quite differently on Largo – a setting that includes chamber-classical woodwind and brass and a percussion sound deploying hip-hop and drum'n'bass grooves. He also plays electric keyboards at times, and the influence of producer Jon Brion – Mehldau's principal collaborator on the project, though the pianist wrote all the arrangements - was clearly critical".[3]

AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars, and in its review by Robert L. Doerschuk stated "what intrigues most about Largo in the end is the perspective it offers on Mehldau, whose playing here is, as always, intelligent, perhaps a bit cerebral, and now open as well to sonic exotica".[1]

JazzTimes reviewer Russel Carlson noted "Even with the added musicians and sounds, Mehldau's piano is, as it should be, the focal point of Largo. His playing remains a little sinister and sad on the CD, but he has also lightened his touch and his melodies and harmonies are refreshingly simpler this time around".[4]

The album was issued on vinyl for the first time in 2023.[5]

Personnel

Credits

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brad Mehldau Largo - Review . Robert L. . Doerschuk . 2014-01-31 . Allmusic.
  2. Web site: Discography of Brad Mehldau . 2014-01-31 .
  3. News: Fordham. John . Brad Mehldau: Largo. The Guardian. September 6, 2002.
  4. Web site: Carlson. Russel. Brad Mehldau Largo Review. JazzTimes. September 2002.
  5. Web site: June 16, 2023 . Brad Mehldau's 'Largo' Now Available on Vinyl for First Time . . June 17, 2023.