Brad Mehldau: Los Angeles II

Brad Mehldau refuses to dumb it down for his audience. And I'm not talking about his references to Richard Rorty and Schopenhauer in the liner notes to this CD. Well, I am talking about them, but also about the music. "Los Angeles II" is as busy as the second runway at LAX -- perhaps that was where it was written -- but every note carries its full weight. Mehldau crafts a musical perpetual motion machine marked by rapidly evolving left-hand textures, dramatic variety in the harmonic structure, and a melody that starts out as a simple yearning motif but soon spirals into brave new patterns. Mehldau's right and left hands play a beguiling cat-and-mouse game, in which the bass always seems ready to pounce on the treble. A very intelligent composition played with the mastery we have come to expect from this extraordinary musician.