Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
The Brad Mehldau Trio is bassist Larry Grenadier (left), pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Jeff Ballard. The group’s new album, Blues And Ballads, is due out June 3. (Photo: Michael Wilson)
(Photo: )The album—Mehldau’s first with his trio since 2012’s Where Do You Start—finds the pianist in familiar yet fruitful territory, once again mining deeply through left-field pop and the Great American Songbook, but this time with a focus on blues and ballads.
The program includes Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl,” Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate On You,” The Beatles’ “And I Love Her” and “My Valentine,” which Paul McCartney composed for his 2012 album Kisses On The Bottom.
Mehldau’s bandmates in the trio are bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, who replaced the group’s original drummer, Jorge Rossy, in 2005. The trio’s discography comprises eight albums, including the five critically acclaimed Art Of The Trio albums with Rossy, which Nonesuch compiled as a boxed set in 2011.
In November 2015, the label released a 4-CD/8-LP collection of Mehldau’s solo performances titled 10 Years Solo Live.
Blues And Ballads is available for pre-order now at iTunes and at the Nonesuch website, where an instant download of the album track “Little Person” (composed by Jon Brion) is included with purchase.
To visit the Nonesuch website, click here.
To read a 2013 review of Brad Mehldau’s performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, click here.
—Brian Zimmerman
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