Pianist Brad Mehldau has always come across as a musician who is inspired as much by the singer-songwriter genre as by the Great American Songbook and the jazz tradition. His first Scottish concert in the late 1990s memorably included a beautifully conceived solo reading of Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’, and he sees Drake as a visionary godfather to the ill-starred singer, songwriter and guitarist Elliott Smith, whose songs form the basis of this moving and involving collection.

To the ten Smith originals he has selected, Mehldau has added ‘Sunday’ from Drake’s second album, Bryter Layter, and Big Star’s much-covered ‘Thirteen’, plus four compositions of his own which are essentially responses to Smith’s work. At nearly ten minutes long, the closing ‘Ride Into The Sun: Conclusion’ is the most ambitious and episodic (in a good way) of these. Here, Mehldau is particularly expressive on the piano’s top notes as the chamber orchestra, which features strongly but never intrusively across the album, evokes landscapes reminiscent of those that informed Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden’s Beyond The Missouri Sky.

Mehldau can convey a song’s mood and message with just his fingers but he calls on Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen to sing, characterfully, ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’ and ‘Southern Belle’. Mandolin genius Chris Thile also adds his very individual vocal interpretation and instrumental magic to the exhilarating bluegrass romp of ‘Colorbars’.

That Mehldau knew Smith and understood his work (the pianist often sat in with him at the Los Angeles singer-songwriter haven, Largo) is evident throughout the album. This familiarity gives poignancy and depth to ‘Sweet Adeline Fantasy’ (a solo piano response to ‘Sweet Adeline’) while the piano, bass and drums reading of ‘Between The Bars’, complete with a fine bass solo, shows complete collective sensitivity.

Ride Into The Sun is released by Nonesuch on Friday 29 August.