Pianist Keith Jarrett has carved out a unique place among comtemporary improvising musicians. After a brief mid-'60s stint with Art Blakey, Jarrett joined the enormously popular Charles Lloyd Quartet before being recruited by Miles Davis at the height of early fusion.
Initially, Jarrett's solo career continued in a similar electric vein, but he soon turned exclusively to acoustic instruments. His improvised solo piano concerts captured genius at work, and his Standards Trio redefined the genre. In between, he has performed classical works and his own folk-inspired music, and he has been an outspoken critic of the commercialization of jazz.
Here are 3 of his solo performances over the years that I like the best.
Facing you
Facing You is one of the most important recordings in contemporary jazz for several reasons, aside from being beautifully conceived and executed by pianist Keith Jarrett. It is a hallmark recording of solo piano in any discipline, a signature piece in the early ECM label discography, a distinct departure from mainstream jazz, a breakthrough for Jarrett, and a studio prelude for his most famous solo project to follow, The Köln Concert. Often meditative, richly melodic, inventive, and introspective beyond compare, Jarrett expresses his soul in tailored tones that set standards for not only this kind of jazz, but music that would serve him and his fans in good stead onward. In this program of all originals, which sound spontaneously improvised with certain pretexts and motifs as springboards, the rhapsodic "Ritooria," 4/4 love/spirit song "Lalene," and song for family and life "My Lady; My Child" firmly establish Jarrett's heartfelt and thoughtful approach. "Vapallia" cements the thematic, seemingly effortless, lighter -- but never tame -- aesthetic. "Starbright" is an easy-paced two-step tune signifying fully Jarrett's personalized stance. Straddling a more jagged, angular, and free edge, the pianist evokes the influence of Paul Bley during "Semblence" (sic). But it is the opening selection, an extended ten-minute opus titled "In Front," that truly showcases Jarrett at his playful best -- a timeless, modal, direct, and bright delight. A remarkable effort that reveals more and more with each listen, this recording has stood the test of time, and is unquestionably a Top Three recording in Keith Jarrett's long and storied career. (from AllMusic.com)
Tracklist:
01.In Front (10:05)
02.Ritooria (5:50)
03.Lalene (8:29)
04.My Lady, My Child (7:17)
05.Landscape For Future Earth (3:29)
06.Starbright (5:01)
07.Vapallia (3:51)
08.Semblence (3:00)
Total Time 00:47:40
Get it
here or
here.
Koln Concert
Preliminaries to the concert were not auspicious. Jarrett arrived at the opera house late and hungry, and needed to eat a hasty meal before going on stage. When he was on, he found that the wrong piano had been delivered.But his performance was enthusiastically received, and the subsequent recording was acclaimed by the critics and an enormous commercial success. With sales of more than 3.5 million, it became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.[2]
The recording is in three parts, lasting 26 minutes, 34 minutes and 7 minutes, respectively. As the concert was originally programmed onLP, the second part was split into parts labeled "IIa" and "IIb". Part IIc actually is a 3rd part, the encore.
A notable aspect of this concert is Jarrett's ability to produce very extensive improvised material over a vamp of one or two chords for prolonged periods of time. For instance, in Part I, he spends almost 12 minutes vamping over the chords Am7 (A minor 7) to G major, sometimes in a slow, rubato feel, and other times in a bluesy, gospel rock feel. And for about the last 6 minutes of Part I, he vamps over an A major theme. Roughly the first 8 minutes of Part II A is a vamp over a D major groove with a repeated bass vamp in the left hand, and in Part II B, Jarrett improvises over an F# minor vamp for approximately the first 6 minutes.
Track list:
1. Part I
2. Part II
3. Part II b
4. Part II c
Get it
here or
here.
Paris Concert
The self-imposed quarantine on solo concerts over, Keith Jarrett returned to the improvisatory format that he virtually invented, mellower and more devotional than ever. Indeed, within the 38 minutes of solo improvisation captured at Paris's Salle Pleyel, Jarrett pulls further away from the old rousing (and thoroughly American) gospel, blues and folk roots of earlier concerts toward a more abstract concept. ”
Track List
01. October 17, 1988 38:23
02. The Wind 6:32
03. Blues 5:22
Get it
here or
here.
Happy listening!
