Oscar

Peterson Rhythm Awareness/Analysis 2018

Brad Mehldau’s Solo on Anthropology

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZz0RzF34IM
(Transcription by Tomek Soltys, published 2014, Creative Commons License)

This particular performance of the tune ‘Anthropology’ by Brad Mehldau, Jorge
Rossy and Mario Rossy from the album ‘When I Fall in Love’ warrants rhythmic
analysis for a number of reasons. Mehldau’s 6-minute piano solo is a masterclass in
the manipulation of rhythm in the context of a jazz solo, exploring odd groupings,
rhythmic displacement, tension and release and many other rhythmic effects at a
breakneck tempo of roughly 320 bpm.

The arrangement for the piano solo is split into three sections based on differing
drum grooves:
- Chorus 1 and 2: The drums are accenting a continuous rhythmic cycle of 6
eighth notes (every 3 beats) creating a 3 bar loop. The accents are played on
a rim click, with hi hats on beats 2 and 4 outlining the primary pulse in a
traditional swing manner. The 3 bar cycle creates a concurrent pulse stream
that rubs against the primary pulse, the even 32 bar song form and the two
beat harmonic rhythm creating an interesting and ambiguous backing for the
solo.
- Chorus 3 and 4: The rhythmic cycle changes to accenting every 3rd eighth
note (dotted crotchets), doubling the amount of accents in the 3 bar loop and
creating a sense of the concurrent pulse stream speeding up. The faster
accents create even more rhythmic tension and ambiguity against the
primary pulse.
- Chorus 5+: Drums change to traditional swing feel releasing all of the built
up rhythmic tension from the previous choruses
The first sections are where some of Brad’s most interesting rhythmic activity lies
and I will analyse these opening phrases.

Opening 8 bar phrase (0:25):

A B A2

A3 B2 A4

Taken at face value, the opening phrase could be analysed like so:
- Rhythmic idea A: eighth notes grouped in 3s - 3-note cell starting on beat 4
(with a pickup).
- Rhythmic idea B: even groupings with accents on beats two and four
(displaced)

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Oscar Peterson Rhythm Awareness/Analysis 2018

- A2 is the same as A with an added onbeat note at the end, which resolves to
cell A3.
- A3 is a 4-note variation of A
- Cell B2 is a 3-note variation of B – begins on beat 4 mirroring cell A, but the
second note is unexpectedly delayed and played on the beat
- A4 is a repetition of A2 ending the overarching phrase on beat 4.
This seems very complicated and it would incredibly hard to improvise with this
thought process at such a fast tempo. However, another interesting way to analyse
this phrase is to shift it back by one beat like so:

Viewed in this way the phrase is actually made up of very simple, clear and strong
rhythmic ideas – simple bar-long archetypes of eighth notes grouped in 3s and 2s
(namely 3 3 2 and 2 3 3 patterns) combined with single accents on the strong beats
of the bar (beats 1 and 3). If a soloist played the phrase like this, it would clearly
mark out the pulse. Brad however, chooses to play this simple rhythmic language
starting and ending on beat 4, which accents the weaker beats, avoids accenting
beat 1 and immediately thrusts the listener into confusion; they have no idea when
the next note will come…or not come.

Second 8 bar phrase (0:30):

This phrase follows a similar idea to the previous one, using a simple archetypal
model of 8 eighth notes grouped in 2s and 3s – specifically 3 3 2 - 3 2 3 repeating as a
cycle. The whole cycle is once again displaced from where the listener would expect
it to be at the start of the bar, beginning instead on beat 4 – following the idea from
the previous phrase. This phrase in particular accents beat 4 of every bar and avoids
beat 1, causing the listener to begin to hear the 4 as the 1 and ‘turn the beat around’
in their heads. Combined with the first phrase, which serves to destabilise the
listener’s sense of time, this one truly implies the beat is in a different spot.

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Oscar Peterson Rhythm Awareness/Analysis 2018

The phrase in bar 16 continues the 3 3 2 archetype, but delays the next note by a
beat, finally resolving to beat 1. To the listener, this feels either like the meter is
stretching to accommodate the resolution of the line, or the resolution is delayed to
‘beat 2’ in their ‘backwards’ picture of the bar. Either way, the effect of this delay is
immensely felt.

Analysis can’t tell us what Mehldau is thinking when he’s improvising these lines, but
we can deduce some possible processes by analysing their rhythmic content. I have
two main hypotheses:
- He has practiced beginning and ending rhythmic cycles on beat 4 and is
prodigiously mindful enough to coherently phrase within that framework.
This is possible, but it would take incredible skill to be able to phrase as
clearly as he does.
OR
- He has practiced turning the beat around whilst maintaining its relationship
to the actual beat and then improvising using simple rhythmic language.
This could be achieved by imagining a 3/4 bar at the beginning of a phrase
and resolving with a 5/4 bar (or vice versa).
This is not often intentionally done by jazz musicians, but could produce some
interesting results. The audience would be processing the rhythmic content of the
phrase in the same way as the soloist, which means they can clearly follow the ideas
and phrasing as it’s intended, but they can’t keep track of the form, the barlines or
when the phrase will be resolved.

Where many people might play simple rhythmic language to clearly delineate the
pulse at such a fast tempo, Brad Mehldau utilises displacement and interesting
rhythmic cycles, in combination with the polyrhythmic drum groove, to immediately
disorient the listener and obscure the pulse and form, creating a space where the
audience doesn’t know what’s going to happen next and keeping the music fresh
and exciting.
















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