Day Is Done

The title refers not only to the Nick Drake cover on this, Brad Mehldau’s latest album, but to the relatively brief day it took the pianist’s jazz trio (with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard) to record the disk. The upshot of that short, sharp session is a potent hit-and-run energy that not only sustains extended improvisational takes (Radiohead’s “Knives Out”) but offers a dynamic counterpoint to softer, more straight-on covers (a stunning rendition of Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie”).