The release of Metheny Mehldau is the jazz event of the year by some distance. It’s the first time guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau have recorded together and presents a fascinating match of two musical forces who have become world renowned jazz figures. Metheny, for his wealth of critically and commercially successful records, guitar virtuosity and free wheeling jazz spirit, Mehldau for his dark neo-Gothic treatments of jazz standards and the figure who has made interpretations of Radiohead and Nick Drake de rigueur for the hip young jazz musician. In this exclusive Stuart Nicholson talks to Pat Metheny about the secretive recording session that spawned the record and a future release by the pair, and finds out how Pat and Brad found themselves playing a Whitney Houston song at a birthday party when they first met. Then Brad Mehldau talks to Stephen Graham about notions of Americana, his “Gothic tinge” and declares that he is a “notoriously bad collaborator” 17.01.07

The very antithesis of the power drummer, Paul Motian, revered for his work with Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett as well as his own prodigious work as a leader, turns 75 this year. Duncan Heining looks back with Motian over the highs and lows of his remarkable musical career. 06.04.06

timg style="float:left;padding:5px;" alt="Paul Motian" src="http://www.jazzwise.com/p2/jazzmag/images/stories/thumbs/paul_motian.jpg">As the world reels from a series of natural disasters and powerful international leaders dither dangerously on the issue of climate change, many jazz artists fear for the safety of the planet. Kevin Le Gendre hears how the legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders is both concerned for the future of Mother Nature yet continually inspired by the environment while the adventurous trumpeter Byron Wallen explains how the earth provides magical sounds that are beyond the reach of man-made instruments.
11.01.06

29.08.07