Elan Mehler

Born in New York, USA, pianist Mehler absorbed formative inspiration from assorted rock ensembles alongside a broad array of jazz figures such as Paul Bley, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Bill Frisell, Charles Mingus, Steve Reich and Kenny Wheeler. Beyond his American engagements, he performed across Europe and spent a year in Paris serving as musical director for a modest club. While playing piano in an Alpine hotel bar, he drew the attention of British DJ and record producer Gilles Peterson, who subsequently offered him a recording contract on the Brownswood Recordings imprint. Mehler’s 2007 debut Scheme For Thought contained the tracks ‘Muse Suite’ and ‘Christina’s Song’ together with an arresting interpretation of Gillian Welch’s ‘Elvis Presley Blues’. Frequently marked by deep introspection, his compositions fuse jazz feeling with classical refinement and engage listeners through an intelligent yet unsentimental romantic sensibility. During the mid-00s his quartet featured bassists Paul DeFiglia and Tod Hendrick, Fender Rhodes players David Moore and Scott Spivak, and tenor saxophonist Andrew Zimmerman. A pianist noted for subtlety, persuasiveness and an individual approach to both conception and touch, Mehler received the International Association of Jazz Educators’ New England composition award.