Ride into the Sun
Ride into the Sun is a studio album by American jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. It was recorded on January 24–28, 2025 and released on August 29, 2025. The album includes ten compositions by singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and four of Mehldau's own, which he says are "inspired by, and reflect, Smith's oeuvre". The title of the album was inspired by the lyrics to Smith's "Colorbars": "Everyone wants me to ride into the sun. But I ain't gonna go down, Laying low again, high on the sound."
Reception
Frank Housh of All About Jazz wrote, "Ride into the SunTrack listing
All tracks are written by Elliott Smith except where noted.Personnel
- Brad Mehldau – piano, producer
- Daniel Rossen – acoustic guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, resonator guitar
- Chris Thile – mandolin, lead vocals, backing vocals
- Felix Moseholm – acoustic bass
- John Davis – acoustic bass, electric bass, engineering, mixing
- Matt Chamberlain – drums, percussion, screams
- Dan Coleman – producer, conductor
- Jill Dell'Abate – contractor
- Jackie Thompson – copyist
- Jessica Han, Alex Sopp – flute
- Agnes Marchione – clarinet
- Adrian Morejon – bassoon
- Eric Reed – horn
- Christina Courtin, Ellen DePasquale, Laura Frautschi, Joanna Maurer, Derek Ratzenboeck, Austin Wulliman – violin
- Mario Gotoh, Dov Scheindlin, Nadia Sirota – viola
- Michael Haas, Sophie Shao, Caitlin Sullivan – cello
- David Grossman – bass