Brad Mehldau - Finding Gabriel (2019) [Hi-Res]

Brad Mehldau's new album, Finding Gabriel, is out next Friday, May 17, but you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org/firstlisten. The album includes nine thematically related songs by Mehldau and features performances by him on piano, synthesizers, percussion, and Fender Rhodes, as well as vocals. Guest musicians include Ambrose Akinmusire, Sara Caswell, Kurt Elling, Joel Frahm, Mark Guiliana, Gabriel Kahane, and Becca Stevens, among others.

It's "a swing-for-the-fences opus," says NPR's Nate Chinen. "When you spend some time with Finding Gabriel, you begin to understand how much faith Mehldau has placed here in human vocalization, as a call to communion in troubled times." The album "feels both impeccably crafted and wildly out on a limb," says Chinen, "rooted in both breath and spirit, and a force that moves in mysterious ways."