Cal Performances Presents Wednesday, March , , pm Zellerbach Hall Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau with Larry Grenadier & Jeff Ballard Th is presentation is made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts. Cal Performances’ – season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. CAL PERFORMANCES 15 About the Artists Pat Metheny (guitar) was born in Kansas also received an honorary doctorate more than City on August , , into a musical family. years later (). He has also taught music Starting on trumpet at the age of , Metheny workshops all over the world, from the Dutch switched to guitar at age . By age , he was Royal Conservatory to the Th elonious Monk working regularly with the best jazz musicians Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-band- America. He has also been a true musical pio- stand experience at an unusually young age. neer in the realm of electronic music, and was Metheny fi rst burst onto the international jazz one of the very fi rst jazz musicians to treat the scene in . Over the course of his three- synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, Years before the invention of MIDI technology, the young Missouri native already displayed Metheny was using the Synclavier as a compos- his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, ing tool. He also been instrumental in the de- which blended the loose and fl exible articulation velopment of several new kinds of guitars, such characteristic of horn players with an advanced as the soprano acoustic guitar, the -string rhythmic and harmonic sensibility—a way of Pikasso guitar, the Ibanez PM- jazz guitar playing and improvising that was modern in and a variety of other custom instruments. conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tra- It is one thing to attain popularity as a dition of melody, swing and the blues. With the musician, but it is another to receive the kind release of his fi rst album, Bright Size Life (), of acclaim Metheny has garnered from crit- he reinvented the traditional “jazz guitar” sound ics and his peers. Over the years, Metheny has for a new generation of players. Th roughout his won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and career, Pat Metheny has continued to redefi ne awards, including three gold records for (Still the genre by utilizing new technology and con- Life) Talking, Letter from Home and Secret Story. stantly working to evolve the improvisational He has also won Grammy Awards spread out and sonic potential of his instrument. over a variety of diff erent categories, including Metheny’s versatility is almost nearly with- Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary out peer on any instrument. Over the years, he Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo has performed with artists as diverse as Steve and Best Instrumental Composition. Th e Pat Reich, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Jim Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven Hall, Milton Nascimento and David Bowie. He consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive has been part of a writing team with keyboardist albums. Metheny has spent most of his life on Lyle Mays for more than years—an associa- tour, averaging between and shows a tion that has been compared to the Lennon & year since . At the time of this writing, he McCartney and Ellington & Strayhorn partner- continues to be one of the brightest stars of the ships by critics and listeners alike. Metheny’s jazz community, dedicating time to both his body of work includes compositions for solo own projects and those of emerging artists and guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic established veterans alike, helping them to reach instruments, large orchestras and ballet pieces, their audience as well as realizing their own ar- with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock tistic visions. to classical. As well as being an accomplished musi- Brad Mehldau (piano), born August , , cian, Metheny has also participated in the aca- has recorded and performed extensively since demic arena as a music educator. At , he was the early s. He has worked primarily with the youngest teacher ever at the University of the same trio since , featuring bassist Larry Miami. At , he became the youngest teacher Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. Between ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he and , they released an impressive se- 16 CAL PERFORMANCES About the Artists ries of fi ve records on the Warner Brothers label, wide range of expression, and he favors juxtapos- entitled Th e Art of the Trio, and in released ing extremes. Often, the intellectual rigor and the album Anything Goes. In , drummer density of information in the abstraction of one Jeff Ballard joined Mehldau’s trio. During the tune is followed by a stripped-down, emotional Warner Brothers period, Mehldau also released directness in the next. Over the years, he has at- a solo piano recording entitled Elegiac Cycle, tracted a sizeable following, which has grown and a record entitled Places that included both to expect a singular, intense experience in his solo piano and trio compositions. Th e latter two performances. recordings might be called “concept” albums. In addition to his trio and solo projects, Th ey are made up exclusively of original ma- Mehldau has worked with a number of great jazz terial and have central themes that hover over musicians, including a rewarding gig with saxo- the compositions. Outside of the piano solo or phonist Joshua Redman’s band; recordings and trio format, Mehldau collaborated with the in- concerts with Charlie Haden and Lee Konitz; novative fi lm composer, musician and producer and recording as a sideman with the likes of Jon Brion on Largo (released in ), classical Wayne Shorter, John Scofi eld and Charles soprano Renée Flemming (originally commis- Lloyd. For more than a decade, he has collabo- sioned by Carnegie Hall to compose and per- rated with several musicians whom he respects form songs for voice and piano) on Love Sublime greatly, including guitarists Peter Bernstein and (Nonesuch, ) and, most recently, with jazz Kurt Rosenwinkel and tenor saxophonist Mark guitarist Pat Metheny () on the acclaimed Turner. Mehldau also has played on a number of Metheny Mehldau (Nonesuch, ). recordings outside of the jazz idiom, including His fi rst record for Nonesuch, Brad Mehldau Willie Nelson’s Teatro and singer-songwriter Joe Live in Tokyo, was released in September . Henry’s Scar. His music has appeared in several Th e label released its fi rst album from the Brad movies, including Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Mehldau Trio (the fi rst with Jeff Ballard on Shut and Wim Wender’s Million Dollar Hotel. drums)—Day Is Done—in September . He also composed an original soundtrack for Mehldau is fi rst and foremost an impro- the French fi lm, Ma femme est une actrice. viser, and he greatly cherishes the surprise and In March , Mehldau will debut the wonder that can occur from a spontaneous, di- piano concerto, Th e Brady Bunch Variations for rectly expressed musical idea. But he also has a Piano and Orchestra, at Th éâtre du Châtelet in deep fascination for the formal architecture of Paris with Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. music that informs everything he plays. In his most inspired playing, the actual structure of his Larry Grenadier (bass) was born in in musical thought serves as an expressive device. San Francisco, California, and began playing As he plays, he listens to how ideas unwind and bass when he was . As a teenager in the Bay the order in which they reveal themselves. Each Area, Larry played with Joe Henderson, Stan tune has a strongly felt narrative arc, whether it Getz and Bobby Hutcherson, among many oth- expresses itself in a beginning and an end, or as ers. He graduated from Stanford University in something left intentionally open-ended. Th e with a BA in English literature. After relo- two sides of Mehldau’s personality—the impro- cating to Boston in , he toured the United viser and the formalist—play off of each other, States and Europe as a member of Gary Burton’s and the eff ect is often something like controlled band. He moved to New York the following chaos. year, and has since performed with Betty Carter, Mehldau has performed around the world at Joshua Redman, Danilo Perez, David Sanchez, a steady pace since the mid-s, with his trio Tom Harrell, Joe Henderson, John Scofi eld, Pat and as a solo pianist. His performances convey a Metheny, Paul Motian, Charles Lloyd and Brad CAL PERFORMANCES 17 About the Artists Mehldau, as well as recorded dozens of records. perform occasionally with Chick Corea, Joshua Larry is also a member of the collective trio, Fly, Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel and others. along with Jeff Ballard and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner. Th e group’s fi rst recording for Management Savoy was released in January . Ted Kurland Associates (Metheny) Brighton Avenue Jeff Ballard (drums) was born on September , Boston, Massachusetts , in Southern California, grew up in Santa tel. -- Cruz, and began playing drums at age . fax -- He toured with Ray Charles from un- [email protected] til , when he settled in New York. Since www.tedkurland.com then, Ballard has performed and/or recorded with Lou Donaldson, Chick Corea, Buddy International Music Network (Mehldau) Montgomery, Mike Stern, Danilo Perez and Main Street Kurt Rosenwinkel, to name a few. In addition Gloucester, Massachusetts to his work with the Brad Melhdau Trio, Ballard tel. -- co-leads Fly, a collectively led trio with Larry fax -- Grenadier and Mark Turner, and continues to www.imnworld.com 18 CAL PERFORMANCES.