Playlists

Brad Mehldau Playlist

December 11, 2015
Brad Mehldau Playlist

Brad Mehldau Playlist

I’ve always believed that music is an important part of the dining experience.  At my restaurants, the soundtrack is usually just the random shuffle of my iPod.   Occasionally I’ll make a playlist of my favourite songs on that particular day.  I’ve made special request playlists for customers celebrating engagements and birthdays.  Sometimes, when the room feels like it needs to be buzzier, I’ll put on guaranteed crowd pleasers like Creedence Clearwater Revival or Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors and diners will start dancing in their chairs.  On Canada Day, the playlist might consist of Neil Young, Alanis Morissette, Leonard Cohen, Drake, the McGarrigle Sisters, Blue Rodeo, Feist, Bahamas, Bruce Cockburn, Sam Roberts, kd lang, and so on.  St. Patrick’s Day might feature Irish artists such as the Pogues, the Waterboys, the Cranberries, Hozier, Damien Rice, U2, Van Morrison, Glen Hansard and Chris de Burgh.  And when an artist dies, well it’s Bowie all night long.

A regular customer of one of my restaurants, a onetime radio DJ, told me that he approved of my playlists.  Knowing of my particular fondness for Radiohead, he made me a playlist of Radiohead covers.  One of those songs was Exit Music for a Film, covered by Brad Mehldau, an artist I had not previously heard of .  Exit Music is usually my favourite Radiohead song (depends on the day), and I would have thought that no one could do it justice.  Well, I was wrong.  Mehldau’s jazz-inflected version is a stunner.  This playlist doesn’t include Exit Music, but every single song is spectacular nonetheless.

Read Part Three of “If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen”…

Read Part One of “If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen”…

Read Part Two of “If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen”…

Make this recipe for my version of “Bits and Bites“…

Photo credit: Brad Mehldau Trio, by Lorenzo Gaudenzi, is licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, cropped.

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