Ride into the Sun Brad Mehldau

• 1 Better Be Quiet Now 04:03
• 2 Everything Means Nothing to Me 05:19
• 3 Tomorrow Tomorrow (feat. Daniel Rossen) 04:02
• 4 Sweet Adeline 03:21
• 5 Sweet Adeline Fantasy 04:44
• 6 Between the Bars 05:01
• 7 The White Lady Loves You More 04:40
• 8 Ride into the Sun: Part I 03:19
• 9 Thirteen 04:01
• 10 Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands 04:01
• 11 Somebody Cares, Somebody Understands 03:48
• 12 Southern Belle (feat. Daniel Rossen) 03:52
• 13 Satellite 03:52
• 14 Colorbars (feat. Chris Thile) 05:23
• 15 Sunday 03:33
• 16 Ride into the Sun: Conclusion 09:38
• Total Runtime 01:12:37

Info for Ride into the Sun

Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau’s Ride into the Sun—a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith—is due August 29, 2025, on Nonesuch Records; it is available to pre-order here. Featured musicians include singer/guitarist Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear); singer/mandolinist Chris Thile (Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek); bassists Felix Moseholm (Brad Mehldau Trio, Samara Joy) and John Davis (who also engineered and mixed the album); drummer Matt Chamberlain (Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Randy Newman); and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, who also conducted on Mehldau’s 2010 album Highway Rider.

Ride into the Sun’s ten Elliott Smith songs are complemented by four Mehldau compositions that he says are “inspired by, and reflect, Smith’s oeuvre.” Also included are interpretations of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” which Smith also covered, and “Sunday” by Nick Drake, who Mehldau says, “I look at in some ways as sort of Smith’s visionary grandfather.”

Recalling how he first got to know Smith and his music, which has been a regular part of his repertoire for years, Mehldau said that after years living in New York, he moved to Los Angeles “and there was this wonderful scene of singer-songwriters that was congregating at a club called Largo. That included Elliott but it also included artists like Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple. And then other musicians who had been around for a while would come down every Friday night to sit in on a gig that was led by Jon Brion. I played behind Elliott on his own tunes with Jon. It felt to me like a kind of renaissance in songwriting that flourished for a number of years.”

“Elliott Smith masterfully rendered the dark/light admix not in the least through his distinct harmony,” Mehldau continues. “Specifically, he had a way of combining major and minor modes that was all his own. You hear that on the unique, captivating chord progression that he introduced on ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’ for just a moment before the last verse of the song. I use it, extending it for my piano solo here. This kind of minor-major gambit has a long pedigree, and my own associations as a listener include the music of Schubert and Brahms, among others.

„Brad Mehldau is one of the most influential and acclaimed jazz pianists alive today. His many recordings feature a wide range of jazz and American popular song standards, but he is also known to interpret music that lies outside the typical jazz catalogue.” - NPR, Fresh Air

„Mehldau has forged a singular style that has not only enhanced jazz’s musical vocabulary but modernised it too.” - Mojo

„Brad Mehldau is arguably the greatest working jazz pianist. Top five, for sure.” - New Yorker

Brad Mehldau, piano
John Davis, double bass (tracks 1, 11); electric bass (tracks 2, 10, 15, 16)
Matt Chamberlain, drums (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16); percussion (tracks 13, 2), backing vocals (track 2)
Daniel Rossen, lead vocals (tracks 3, 12) acoustic guitar (tracks 3, 10, 12, 14, 16); electric guitar (track 10), backing vocals (track 10)
Chris Thile, mandolin (tracks 3, 14); backing vocals (track 3); lead vocals (track 14)
Felix Moseholm, double bass (tracks 3, 6, 12, 14)
Orchestra (tracks 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15)
Dan Coleman, conductor

Recorded January 24-28, 2025 at The Bunker Studio (Brooklyn, NY) Photography by Augusta Quirk
Engineered by John Davis and Nolan Thies
Produced by Brad Mehldau and Dan Coleman

Brad Mehldau
played in a number of different ensembles, including label mate Joshua Redman’s quartet, before becoming a bandleader himself in the 1990s. The Brad Mehldau Trio, which tours the world extensively, made eight acclaimed recordings for Warner Bros., including the five widely praised Art of the Trio albums with former drummer Jorge Rossy (released as a boxed set by Nonesuch in 2011). The pianist’s nine years with Nonesuch have been equally productive, beginning with the solo disc Live in Tokyo and including six trio records Day is Done, House on Hill, Live, Ode, and Where Do You Start, as well as a collaboration with soprano Renée Fleming, Love Sublime; a chamber ensemble album, Highway Rider; two collaborations with label mate Pat Metheny, Metheny Mehldau and Quartet, the latter of which also includes Trio members Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier; a CD/DVD set of live solo performances, Live in Marciac; and collaborations with genre-crossing musicians on Modern Music, with composer/pianist Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli. Additionally, he produced saxophonist Joshua Redman’s 2013 release Walking Shadows.

Mark Guiliana
According to Modern Drummer, Mark Guiliana is “at the forefront of an exciting new style of drumming.” The New Jersey native’s unique and un-compromised approach to playing the drums has earned him international acclaim as both a leader and a sideman. In 2004, Guiliana created HEERNT, an “experimental-garage-jazz” trio based in New York. The band’s debut record, Locked in a Basement, was called the record “the most exuberant, dramatic, beautiful, sassy, genre-busting little outing that I've heard since I don't know when” by legendary drummer Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson). As a sideman, Guiliana’s longest partnership has been with world-renowned jazz bassist Avishai Cohen. He toured all over the world with Cohen from 2003 until 2008, performing on six studio records and a live DVD recorded at the Blue Note in Manhattan. Guiliana has also recorded and/or performed with Meshell Ndegeocello, Dhafer Youssef, Wayne Krantz, Matisyahu, Jazz Mandolin Project, Jason Lindner, Brad Shepik, Bobby McFerrin, Tigran Hamasyan, and many more. His debut solo record, Beat Music, which was co-produced by Ndegeocello, was released in the spring of 2013. Guiliana plays Gretsch drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, and Evans drumheads.

This album contains no booklet.