PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILSON
“ … whatever feels unlikely about their pairing is eclipsed by what feels perfectly natural. Mr. Thile, the mandolinist and singer with Punch Brothers, is a progressive-bluegrass pacesetter; Mr. Mehldau is the most influential jazz pianist of the last 20 years.” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times
Capture a moment in an ongoing tour-de-force creative conversation as mandolinist/singer and A Prairie Home Companion host Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau celebrate their recently released, live-in-the-studio double album, Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, in a Wilson Center concert event. After performing two sold-out duo concerts at downtown Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom in 2015, the Nonesuch Records label-mates decamped to Avatar Studios in Hell’s Kitchen, where they spent three creatively charged days recording together, exploring original compositions and an impressively eclectic stack of covers—from Joni Mitchell’s “Marcie” to Elliot Smith’s “Independence Day” to Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” Employing just piano and mandolin, Thile and Mehldau’s complex work translates to “plain-faced beauty: simple, direct and exquisite” (Washington Post).
