BRAD MEHLDAU

For many, Mehldau is the young jazz pianist of choice, for combining a technical grasp with a knack for transcending traditionalism and making each solo an excursion, not unlike his hero Keith Jarrett. Mehldau does it time and again with his telepathic trio, from the knotty recasting of ''All the Things You Are'' to a sighing gracefulness on his ''Sehnsucht.'' He's in tune with his generation, too, turning Radiohead's ''Exit Music (for a Film)'' into an inventive etude. A-

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