Jazz breaking news: Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana’s Mehliana album Taming The Dragon set for 2014
Thursday, November 21, 2013
On the day of their Barbican headline performance at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Mehliana – Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana’s stunning improv-driven jazz-tronica project – have confirmed they are to release an album, Taming The Dragon, on 10 February 2014 on Nonesuch.
Touring the project extensively for the past year, including a sold-out gig at London’s Village Underground in March, the duo’s almost telepathic interplay has forged an expansive range of keyboard sounds all played by Mehldau on vintage synths and Fender Rhodes with Guiliana’s ultra-hip beats and laptop effects whipping up a maelstrom of free flowing, often dance-influenced rhythms.
The album, engineered and mixed by Greg Koller (Jon Brion, Kanye West), features 12 original tunes, half written by Mehldau and half by the duo, and marks a real departure for the acclaimed pianist away from the usual rarified acoustic setting of his long-running trio and solo piano performances. Drummer Guiliana first came to global prominence as part of Israeli bass star Avishai Cohen’s trio a decade ago and he’s since worked with numerous artists including Phronesis, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dhafer Youssef, Wayne Krantz, Jason Lindner, Brad Shepik, Bobby McFerrin and Tigran Hamasyan as well as leading his own electronica influenced project Heernt and his recently released solo album, Beat Music. Watch Jazzwise for an exclusive on the band in the coming months – in the meantime see the video of ‘Hungry Ghost’ below for a taste of the album.
– Mike Flynn