Every so often a set of discs comes along that defines an artist or their place in jazz. Unusually, Brad Mehldau has managed this feat twice, with his exceptional Art of the Trio box from 2011, cataloguing his explorations of the piano/bass/drums format, and now with this decadelong survey of his solo work. Fashioned as a vinyl set of eight LPs, the music has been carefully grouped into a sequence, with two LPs each comprising Dark/Light/The Concert/Intemezzo/E Minor – E Major. Anyone who has experienced a Mehldau solo concert or two will know that these are among the preoccupations that have underpinned his work. The idea of dramatic contrast such as Jeff Buckley's sombreness versus the sunniness of Lennon and McCartney, for instance, or the alternation throughout a set of major and minor. But what shines through this entire collection is a great musical intelligence at work. Yes, he's connected to the jazz tradition, as his explorations of Monk, Trane and Bobby Timmons reveal, but he's also linked into the world of the piano, and its repertoire, from classics to rock. Parts of the set are not an easy listen, and Mehldau makes clear in his notes that he is reaching far into himself, into areas of pain and angst, for some of the pieces. But alongside that is music so exultant and uplifting it makes the depths seem all the darker. A dazzling conversation between left and right hands illuminates ‘Get Happy’, plus an exquisite miniature of Jerome Kern's ‘I'm Old Fashioned’, are among the highlights, but this is a set to be lived with, to be listened to as one's own moods fluctuate, and whatever the circumstances, whatever the time, whatever the season, there is music here to bring you up short and make you think, feel, and experience life differently. In short, a monumental achievement, and one of the most rewarding solo piano collections of the 21st century so far.