1998 · Album
Songs: The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3
Warner Bros. · Produced by Matt Pierson · Released: 1998
Mehldau's Trio in Its Prime
By 1998, Mehldau had figured out exactly what his trio could do, and he wasn't wasting a note.
Songs: The Art of the Trio Volume Three arrives at a moment when Brad Mehldau has already proven himself as a bandleader and composer. This is his third installment in the series, and the confidence shows. Where some artists use a trio format to strip things down, Mehldau uses it as an expansion — three musicians creating space for each other to breathe and react. The album finds him working comfortably within his established voice: intelligent arrangements of standards and originals, a lyrical touch on the piano, and a working band that knows how to listen.
What makes this record worth hearing is its directness. There's no attempt to reinvent anything. Mehldau plays the music he wants to play, with players he trusts, and the result is solid and engaging without feeling like a statement about anything larger than itself. The trio format strips away excess and forces clarity — every phrase lands, every silence matters. If you've heard his earlier trio records, this one continues down that same road, deeper and more assured. If you haven't, this is a good entry point to how he thinks about melody and harmony, though it helps to have some patience with his approach.
The album was produced by Matt Pierson and released on the Warner Bros. label. By this point in his career, Mehldau was working comfortably as a bandleader and composer, and that experience informs everything here. This isn't a peak moment that overshadows everything else he's done — instead, it's evidence that he'd found something sustainable, something that worked. If you want to hear a skilled pianist playing with intelligence and restraint, this delivers that consistently.
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