Modern Music

Modern Music (2011) represents a significant collaborative milestone in Brad Mehldau's discography, moving away from his signature trio format to explore a two-piano dialogue with Kevin Hays, under the compositional and structural guidance of Patrick Zimmerli. The album is a rigorous exploration of the 'Third Stream' - the fertile ground where jazz and classical music intersect. Specifically, it leans heavily into the aesthetics of American Minimalism, featuring arrangements of works by Steve Reich and Philip Glass alongside original compositions by Zimmerli, Mehldau, and Hays. The recording is characterized by its extreme clarity and precision, capturing the subtle tonal differences between the two pianists. Critically, it was praised for its technical audacity and its success in translating minimalist repetitive structures into a jazz context without losing the genre's inherent spontaneity. It stands as one of Mehldau's most 'academic' yet sonically beautiful projects, bridging the gap between the concert hall and the jazz club.