Recording of the Week, Brad Mehldau, 'Jacob's Ladder'

Brad Mehldau is no stranger to incorporating music outside the realm of standard jazz – in fact, he’s quite well known for doing so, with series like the five-volume Art of the Trio being excellent examples of this – and for this most recent project he’s diving head-first into the heavy, oddly-timed sounds of progressive rock. While Art of the Trio featured material ranging from The Beatles, through folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’, to Radiohead’s ‘Exit Music (For a Film)’, alongside more traditional jazz standards, Jacob’s Ladder sees Mehldau delving deep into his appreciation for one specific style, and unearths some incredibly diverse music along the way. Mehldau recounts classic progressive rock acts like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Gentle Giant, as being some of his earliest musical inspirations (even predating his love of jazz) and this appreciation is very evident here, especially with an unorthodox song choice like ‘Racecar’ by modern metallers Periphery.

A similarly personal topic for Mehldau is religion – much like 2019’s Finding Gabriel, in true prog fashion Jacob’s Ladder is heavily conceptual, detailing mankind’s fall from grace, and the journey to return to Heaven. But as you might’ve guessed by its influences, Jacob’s Ladder is not some tame Christianised piano album – amidst dense choral arrangements and blistering piano-led prog, Mehldau’s latest recording finds him in aggressive and angular territory, laden with synthesisers and electronic percussion, that blends surprisingly tastefully with his more chamber-jazz tendencies.

The album opens with the vocal-led ‘maybe as his skies are wide’, featuring subtle instrumentation and electronic drums, while the immediately proceeding ‘Herr Und Kneckt’ offers us a taste of something heavier, complete with Mehldau on the Moog synth and an unexpected breakdown lifted straight out of something more akin to heavy metal. Those who enjoyed the comparatively placid and airy tones of the opener may be caught off guard, particularly when Tobias Bader’s spoken (well, shouted) word parts come in, but Mehldau and co. pull off both extremities pretty well. Some astute readers will notice that the title ‘maybe as his skies are wide’ is a nod to a lyric in Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’, which appears as a cover version later in the record, played fairly straight for the most part by translating the classic guitar riffs over to piano, while the latter half takes off into more jazz jam territory, and features a guest solo from mandolinist Chris Thile. Periphery’s modern metal opus ‘Racecar’ is paired with the Portuguese language ‘Vou correndo te encontrar’; featuring Pedro Martinis on nylon guitar and vocals, the tune has a slight bossa nova feel to it while also retaining the more guitaristic qualities of the original, as well as the blistering chorus – it’s definitely not a combination I would’ve expected to hear, but a pretty welcome one nonetheless.

Outside of the more straightforward rock-meets-jazz territory, a significant portion of Jacob’s Ladder is taken up by three suites – ‘Cogs In Cogs’ (originally by Gentle Giant), ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, and the closing track ‘Heaven’. The record is at its darkest on the eponymous ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, where the vocal arrangements are at their most dense, Mehldau’s guest instrumentalists finally allowed to go all-out free-jazz style and a climax that literally ends in screaming. ‘Heaven’ is comparatively more uplifting and upbeat, lifting us out of the murky rubble of the ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ suite into more temperate pastures. There’s ample exploration of synthesised textures throughout the record, from the synth bass on ‘Tom Sawyer’ (reminiscent of the original recording by Rush), to the playful faux-classical Moog synths on ‘(Entr’acte) Glam Perfume’ and ‘Cogs In Cogs, Pt. III: Double Fugue’. Jacob’s Ladder may not necessarily be a proghead-pleaser, but Mehldau’s appreciation for the style is palpable, as well as his willingness to take it beyond the genre’s bounds. Those put off by overtly religious music needn’t worry either, Mehldau keeps things pretty abstract for the most part – the real draw here is this seasoned pianist’s tasteful combination of seemingly disparate styles into something that’s as ambitious as it is diverse.