Master pianist Brad Mehldau goes it alone at Seattle's Jazz Alley

Known to be a meditative, melodic and evocative pianist, Brad Mehldau was one of many young, proficient jazz musicians to break into the scene in the 1990s, when talent was in great supply but the challenge lay in how to distinguish it.

Virtuosity was abundant. Originality and inspiration were less so. Mehldau, who is now 39, stayed in his own head, plumbing his curiosity and arriving at a sound that was almost literary in approach. He played the piano the way a writer writes, with theme and narrative.

He explored not just old standards, but newer popular songs, preferring them for their simplicity. He played not just with technical ability, but with texture and temperature in mind. His performances can be described as luminous.

Typically he performs as the leader of a trio or as a sideman to a wide variety of musicians (most famously saxophonist Joshua Redman). But this week, the New York-based pianist appears alone, playing two sets Tuesday and Wednesday night at Jazz Alley without bassist Larry Grenadier, who has been with Mehldau for 15 years, and drummer Jeff Ballard, who has been part of the trio for five.

"I really enjoy the particular challenge of playing solo piano," Mehldau said. "There are so many possibilities at any given moment. Most pianists begin their relationship with the piano alone and then play with other people after that ... I enjoy the direct contact with the audience."

Mehldau's formal training is in both classical and jazz — he attended The New School in New York, studying under Fred Hersch, Junior Mance, Kenny Werner and Jimmy Cobb — and has composed music for both genres. Comfortable with both formal structure and free improvisation, he allows one skill to aid the other.

Included in the set will be several new compositions, which Mehldau likes to test during solo sets.

"Solo piano is a workshop for new songs of mine," he said. "It is often a way for me to get intimate with something I've just written and develop different ways of navigating around a tune.

"I also play music from other people. The majority of music on a solo show of mine is treatments of other people's material. But those songs are often a starting point for improvisation that travels far from the original tune."

The magic of Mehldau's playing is the distance he travels and the surprising decisions he makes in plotting that journey. At the same time, he is quite strict about maintaining the melodic integrity of a song, be it a Johnny Mandel standard or a Radiohead tune. He is known for his treatment of rock songs by the likes of the Beatles, Paul Simon and Soundgarden.

"I always have a theme as a starting point," he said. "What's always been fun for me is the journey away from the theme, or the journey back to it. The movement to and from generates motion and a feeling of time passing, and this generates an abstract narrative for the listener."

Hugo Kugiya: hkugiya@yahoo.com