Brad Mehldau’s Finding Gabriel comprises nine thematically related songs by Mehldau and features performances by him on piano, synthesizers, percussion, and Fender Rhodes, as well as vocals.  Guest musicians include Ambrose Akinmusire, Sara Caswell, Kurt Elling, Joel Frahm, Mark Guiliana, Gabriel Kahane, and Becca Stevens, among others.

Mehldau explains, “Finding Gabriel came after reading the Bible closely for the last several years.  The prophetic writing of Daniel and Hosea resonated in particular, as well as the wisdom literature of Job and Ecclesiastes, and the devotional words of Psalms.  The Bible felt like a corollary and perhaps a guide to the present day – one long nightmare or a signpost leading to potential gnosis, depending on how you read it.  The archangel Gabriel appeared to Daniel, telling him, ‘At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly loved.  Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.’  It seemed that the trick was to listen to Gabriel’s words through all the noise and find a way to explain the bedlam, not only to oneself, but to a young person with less of a reference as to what is right-side up – perhaps one’s own children.