Imagine (no, not that song) this:
The Tardis delivers a very surprised J.S Bach into the present day, with no briefing.
He finds himself seated at an interesting “new” keyboard – a grand piano.
Atop it is a device, pre-loaded with a diverse selection of music/s from the second half of the 20th century.
He is given absolutely no “background information”.
The printed instruction to him says, “press button to listen to these pieces, then improvise upon whichever one most pleases you”
JSB is intrigued by I Am The Walrus.
Q: what would he do with/to it?
A: perhaps, something like what you are about to hear….
Brad Mehldau has long been one of the more consistently rewarding “jazz” pianists.
His musical mind is sharp but open, his heart is warm, and – post-1998, at least – he never wastes his (incredible) technique on pointless displays-thereof.
When he chooses to play “somebody else’s song”, the vehicle is not necessarily a “jazz standard”, and his approach to it is always respectful, but highly imaginative.
If you already know the song, you almost certainly will recognise it, but you won’t have already heard a “cover” that resembles Mehldau’s…
The video below has the same (not-the-album) version of “Walrus” as the one above, but precedes it with Brad Mehldau’s very interesting spoken words.
On 10 February Nonesuch will release Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles.
It documents a September 2020 solo concert in Paris.
The concert/album version of I am the Walrus segues surprisingly, successfully, and uninterruptedly to Your Mother Should Know.
As I type, the only album-version cuts released on YouTube are those two songs, as two separate videos;.
Sadly, the publicity campaign’s butchering of the segue has ruined the final “Walrus” note. I have, therefore, spared you.
(If you subscribe to one of the major online audio streaming services, you can already hear the album’s “Walrus/Mother” medley, intact)
The concert medley’s second number – the album’s second track – has been less-grievously injured:
Thanks Doug for introducing me to this jazz pianist; I am the walrus almost made me weep.