From the release of his 1995 debut, aptly titled Introducing Brad Mehldau, the musician has garnered critical praise for the originality of his compositions. While his musical roots remain founded in classical and jazz, Mehldau strays from the traditional at times and delves into modern rock with surprising covers, such as Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For A Film)” and “Paranoid Android,” and Nick Drake’s “River Man.”

“I think when people get turned onto that, that’s really a buzz. When they hear the melody that they know from the Radiohead song and then we start to improvise and they dig it, that’s really cool,” Mehldau told POLLSTAR. “It’s sort of like you’ve drawn them into your world a little.”

By the time Mehldau’s fourth album, volume three of The Art Of The Trio series, rolled around, the pianist had spent a considerable amount time on the road touring North America and Europe, supported Joshua Redman for a stint, and recorded with the likes of Willie Nelson, among others.

Recently, he was the subject of a French documentary titled “Jazz Collection: Brad Mehldau.”

“Sometimes, with jazz audiences – and not all the time – you get a slightly kind of snobby thing that can happen where they come with an expectation of what they’re going to hear based on their own sort of protective admiration for jazz,” Mehldau said. “I certainly don’t think it has to be that way. For me, the only real important think for an audience is that they’re a listening crowd.”

His ninth album, Largo, is set for release in mid-August.