#BRAD MEHLDAU FINDING GABRIEL FULL#

Wide-ranging in texture and big in scale, it features woodwind or brass ensembles are on several tracks, as well as a heavy emphasis on powerful drums. John Davis, who engineered and mixed the record, was an integral player from beginning to end at Bunker Studios in Brooklyn, creatively contributing to the sonic landscape and finally putting all the pieces together.'ДЄlthough Brad Mehldau is best known as a jazz composer and improviser, he has made several albums that fall outside of the mainstream jazz genre, including his 2001 Largo, produced byВ Jon Brion.

#BRAD MEHLDAU FINDING GABRIEL FULL#

Both the collaborations and solo flights were a learning experience and full of discovery. 'A new experience for me on three of the tracks was to go the opposite as well-doing everything as a one-man band. Strings and winds were added and the project became more orchestral, with features from stellar musicians: trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm, and violinist Sara Caswell. I worked with singers I've admired and been close to over the past several years-Becca Stevens, Kurt Elling, and Gabriel Kahane-and sang myself as well. Layers were added, and the human voice became an important element-not with text, but as a pure expression of harmony and emotion. 'I built up many of the tracks beginning with synths and Mark Guiliana on drums, in a process similar to our previous collaboration, Taming the Dragon. 'The music initially sprang out of a new synth I was discovering-the Dave Smith/Tom Oberheim OB-6 featured on several tracks,' Mehldau continues. Where to turn for the truth? Ask, with a humble heart, listen deeply, and the answers will come. With all the supposed connectivity, it seems that we are more separated from each other than ever, submerged in the deep water of unhappy solitude. Eventually one comes up for air with more confusion and maybe even despair. There is a temptation to make it all go away and escape into even more distraction, but this is only temporary refuge and leads one further into a matrix of falsehood. He meant that the prophet indeed speaks the truth, but no one believes it anymore-it's all fake news, no matter on which side of the fence you are standing. 'In this upside down state of affairs, the prophet is a fool: 'The man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred,' Hosea says. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.' It seemed that the trick was to listen to Gabriel's words through all the noise and find a way to explain the bedlam, not only to oneself, but to a young person with less of a reference as to what is right-side up-perhaps one's own children. The archangel Gabriel appeared to Daniel, telling him, 'At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly loved. The Bible felt like a corollary and perhaps a guide to the present day-one long nightmare or a signpost leading to potential gnosis, depending on how you read it. The prophetic writing of Daniel and Hosea resonated in particular, as well as the wisdom literature of Job and Ecclesiastes, and the devotional words of Psalms. Mehldau explains, ' Finding GabrielВ came after reading the Bible closely for the last several years.

Brad mehldau finding gabriel