THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When eminent jazz practitioners with shared histories convene in the studio without rehearsal or preparatory gigs, a perfunctory, by-the-numbers session is often the outcome. That is decidedly not the case on Solid Jackson.
This second gathering of MTB (titled for the surnames of pianist Brad Mehldau, tenor sax player Mark Turner and guitarist Peter Bernstein, and in admiration of the late ’80s “young lion” band OTB) is an intense, focused recital that reinforces the exalted position each member holds in the 2024 jazz landscape. Everyone listens. No one overplays. The ambiance is one of concentrated excellence.
Their first album Consenting Adults wasn’t released until 2000, six years after it was made. In the liner notes the protagonists — which also included Larry Grenadier, then and now, on bass, though Leon Parker, the drummer in 1994, has given way to Bill Stewart — were described as “elite young improvisers who will be among the movers and shakers of 21st century jazz at the conclusion of their postgraduate education.” Mehldau says the ensemble “were fully formed” by 1994, and “have honed down the identity they already had then.”
Along with the core trio, Grenadier has consistently made beautiful choices in a wide array of contexts over the last three decades — in Mehldau’s trio with Jeff Ballard; in the collective trio Fly with Turner and Ballard; alongside Stewart in trios led by John Scofield and Pat Metheny. Stewart, who has made four albums with Bernstein, cut another quartet with Maceo Parker, and worked for three decades with John Scofield, is no slouch either.”
