''Highway Rider'' is a contemporary jazz album by American pianist

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Qua ...

released in 2010 by Nonesuch Records.

Background

It was Mehldau's second collaboration with producer

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

(the other is the 2002 album '' Largo)'', and it features

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman ...

, drummer

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

, and Chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, as well as Mehldau's regular trio partners, bassist

Larry Grenadier Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966 in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist. Early life Grenadier's father, Albert, was a trumpet player, and his two brothers, Phil and Steve, play trumpet and guitar, respectively. Grenadier be ...

and drummer Jeff Ballard.

Track listing

Personnel

Band *

–

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(Disc 1: 1–5, 7; Disc 2: 1–6, 8),

Pump Organ The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

(Disc 1: 2; Disc 2: 3),

Yamaha CS-80 The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice set ...

Polyphonic

Analog Synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

(Disc 1: 4),

Orchestral Bells The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

(Disc 1: 7; Disc 2: 1, 8), Handclaps (Disc 2: 2) * Jeff Ballard –

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(Disc 1: 1, 5; Disc 2: 2), snare brush (Disc 1: 2), Drums (Disc 1: 7; Disc 2: 1, 4, 6, 8); Handclaps (Disc 2: 2) *

– Soprano Saxophone (Disc 1: 1, 5; Disc 2: 2, 8),

Tenor Saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

(Disc 1: 2, 7; Disc 2: 1, 3, 5), Handclaps (Disc 2: 2) *

– Bass (Disc 1: 2, 4, 7; Disc 2: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8), Handclaps (Disc 2: 2) *

– drums (Disc 1: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8; Disc 2: 2, 3), Handclaps (Disc 2: 2) *Orchestra, Dan Coleman, Conductor (Disc 1: 1, 2, 6, 7; Disc 2: 1, 7, 8) *The Fleurettes – Vocals (Disc 1: 5) Production *

– producer, mixing *Gregg Koller –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mixing *

Eric Caudieux Eric Caudieux is a French sound engineer and producer. An accomplished player of the keyboards and rhythm guitar, he is best known for his work with Joe Satriani, appearing on many of his albums and as a member of his backing group when he is on to ...

– engineer *Alan Yoshida – mastering *Robert Hurwitz – executive producer *

Richard Misrach Richard Misrach (born 1949) is an American photographer. He has photographed the deserts of the American West, and pursued projects that document the changes in the natural environment that have been wrought by various man-made factors such as ...

–

cover photograph Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art ...

*Lawrence Azerrad – graphic design

Background

Track listing

Personnel

References

Further reading