Thank you Mr.Mehldau for answering my questions. I sincerely hope that one day we can meet & talk in a more relaxed, conventional way :)

Hi Ms. Binbasgil; Sounds good. Thanks for your interest in my music.

You have a career span of 14 years. Looking back, how do you think you developed as a musician?

I played a lot as a sideman in other people's bands, then began playing with my own trio. Now in the last 5 years, I've played more and more solo. One way to look at that development is that I've gradually given more attention to my own musical ideas - I didn't begin with playing solo piano in public - I worked on it for several years. 

What is it about your music, your piano style, improvisational approach or about you that makes you such a sincere, respected musician among many, defying all kinds of artistic corruption?

That is a great compliment, thank you! I do try to be honest with myself as musician, which means taking no short cuts when learning something, and never condescending to the audience.

 

I am teaching "Jazz Appreciation" at a university in Istanbul. Every semester I start the course with a discussion on improvisation after which I play your interpretation of a song they know, but mostly "Paranoid Android" or "Exit Music For a Film" & everytime I see the fascination on their faces when they hear your music & they start digging you. What is it about you & your music that makes you relevant also to a young audience?

I don't know really, but it is nice to see when people of all ages respond to my music. All musicians have the same material to use; it's a matter of finding a fresh combination of elements that is completely personal and also speaks to people.

 

How is it that we immediately recognize your sound? How did you develop that?

You ask difficult questions! But I'm flattered - to me that's the best compliment to receive, that I'm recognizable. I remember my peers telling me that I sounded like myself around 1991, when I came back from a long tour and had been playing a lot. But then I changed a lot after that. Hopefully we continue to change, but retain certain characteristics that are unique. I think you develop your own sound from what you love the most deeply in music, and that comes from a big variety of places. The particular variety for each musician is different - like a painter's pallette.

 

On the 13th of July, you're going to perform twice during the Istanbul Jazz Festival due to a great audience demand. First you will perform with your trio, then solo, taking a break for only 30 minutes in between. How can a musician handle such an intense, probably very consuming undertaking?

I get energy from playing. The trio performance will inspire the solo performance. I'm really looking forward to playing solo in Istanbul for the first time!


 

If you stopped performing now, how would people remember you as a musician? the place, identity you created in jazz? your most important contributions to this music with respect to piano style, improvisational approach, compositional style etc?

It's too difficult and probably not wise to try to predict my place in history - I'll let the experts do that! : )

Remembering what Keith Jarrett said about his solo concerts, did or will you ever try to approach the piano in a solo concert in a blank state, absolutely nothing prepared in advance?

I try to approach the improvised sections with a blank state. The only thing I plan, really, is what tunes I might play, but that is also loose - it might change. Usually within a solo concert, there will be one or two things that are more 'worked-out' and planned, more classical you could say. I like to mix up the blank state and some preparation.

In a 1999 interview that you gave in Berlin, you were talking about improvisational approach & trying to explain why one creation would be more beautiful than somebody else's. You said that the answer would be in retaining a shape, a form, a harmonic tradition versus playing free.  After 10 years, are you still at that point or do you sometimes find yourself travelling much more freely onto unknown territory, even when you're interpreting a popular song like "50 ways to leave your lover" as I think you did during the Jazz Baltica Festival in 2006?

I find that form for me is the key to freedom - but form is a very open term. If I have the suggestion of a beginning and a destination, that is enough for me - then I can stop anywhere I want within the journey or make several diversions along the way.

My best,

Seda Binbasgil

Thanks again for your interest, and all the best,

Brad Mehldau