This was a tough one! 😅

Thank you!

Haha, I know. He's got a big reach and he's not afraid to use it!

You're welcome! 😀

@@michaellucke2654 you are a genius!

Haha, it was very hard. Took me months!

@@michaellucke2654 I can imagine 🤯now that’s dedication !!

I think you're right, although I haven't really specifically thought about it. I think this is probably more prominent in his solo playing, which he really started to do a lot of after 2001 or so. Before that time I think most of his output was with his trio, but he started doing a lot more solo work which probably gave him the freedom for some deeper harmonic exploration. It would be interesting to chart this progression, probably starting with his Live In Tokyo album, which was when? 2002 or 2003ish?

@@michaellucke2654 Why not start with Elegiac Cycle or Places?

@@michaellucke2654 it's definitely more present in the solo playing. Iirc Tokyo was released in 04, which was the first solo album. I haven't heard all of the Marciac concert, but even from 2004-2010, when Marciac was recorded, there is a big development. From there, the two best examples that come to mind are a 2018 solo version of Misty floating around here on youtube and LA Pastorale. That take of Misty and Pastorale nearly sound like Hindemith to me, nothing like the stuff from the 90s-early aughts. This might be totally wrong, but my main point is that there seems to be a conscious shift in his harmonic choices starting in 03, and again after 2010/2011

The chords to do the song and the music for the Bach portion of it

I haven't been able to figure out exactly what is on his iPad, but I know that he was reading the piece he performed right before this one. He does look up at it early on, so maybe he has the theme notated. I don't think there are any chord changes because I don't think there's really a consistent harmonic structure. It's more that he's playing with different permutations of the theme with ostinato pedal points.

@@michaellucke2654 : I didn't mean to suggest that he was reading the piece: That probably would have been more difficult than improvising it. But I was wondering if maybe the iPad had some prompts, or a harmonic or conceptual roadmap, to guide him through the piece. I wouldn't fault him for doing that: The piece covers a lot of musical terrain! Astonishing transcription, as usual.

A window towards being.......

@@Jamienewman0 Hi everyone, Brad Mehldau here. I couldn’t help snooping in and offering some comments here. Michael, you’ve done an incredible job; thank you for your care and effort. To respond to the query as to what was on the pad: If I recall, I had written out a few different variations on Bach’s original theme, which is one of my all time favs of his because of its chromaticism, like an undulating cadence. And there’s something downright bluesy to it, like a perpetual amen that plays out in the original fugue. I wrote three or four things to work with, but the only one I think I used is right away, just in the first few minutes: a retrograde version of the theme, that is, played in reverse. I had a few other things written there - if I recall, an upside down version intervalically. But I only messed around with the retrograde and then abandoned it - more or less when you see me not looking at the pad anymore. I then got into the series of cadences with figuration that’s a go-to place for me.

Because it's based on the theme from Bach's F minor fugue in book one of the WTK. And was played on a concert where Brad played a lot of Bach pieces.