Jon Brion

After many years as a sideman for other people's projects – including Aimee Mann, the eels, Fiona Apple, Elliott Smith, Jellyfish, and the Wallflowers, among dozens more – multi-instrumentalist, producer, and general "it man" Jon Brion stepped behind the microphone for his debut solo album in late 2000…

Using piano, strings, a wind ensemble, and light percussion, Brion’s score subtly and deftly mirrors the existential ambling of Greta Gerwig’s outstanding coming-of-age film.

Largo was recorded in 2001 and is the first record of Mehldau’s that departs from either the piano trio or solo format. It can be seen as the culmination of musical experiences that he gathered while living in Los Angeles, most notably the music he heard at Largo, a club in Hollywood he went to regularly and pays tribute to in the title of the record.

Fiona Apple defied categorization or any easy career path, almost running the pattern in reverse, opening her career as a highly touted and popular alternative singer/songwriter, then transitioning into a cult artist. Apple certainly benefited from the open-door policy of modern rock in the mid-’90s, following the path of crossover alt-rock piano-based songwriters like Tori Amos, but Apple was hardly an Amos copycat: she had a strong jazz undertow in her vocal phrasing and melodies, she had richer arrangements, she had a poppier bent to her songs. All these things helped her 1996 debut, Tidal, find a wide audience, one that increased considerably in the wake of the controversial video for the single “Criminal,” but Apple made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t an amateur provocateur with her sophomore album, When the Pawn Meets the King, an album that increased her critical reputation and cult, which would be pillars of support during her intense battles while making her third album, Extraordinary Machine. Collection includes: 'Tidal' (1996); 'When The Pawn…' (1999); 'Extraordinary Machine' (2005), and 'The Idler Wheel…' (2012).

Using piano, strings, a wind ensemble, and light percussion, Brion’s score subtly and deftly mirrors the existential ambling of Greta Gerwig’s outstanding coming-of-age film.