Keith Jarrett (Piano)
(Review
by Chris K)
Amid
the slew of releases marking the ECM label's 50th birthday, a Keith Jarrett
solo concert, recorded in the label's Munich home. The piano god goes back a
long way with ECM, with the solo Facing You (1971) recorded in
the studio, followed by multiple incarnations in trio and quartet form as well
as his trademark completely improvised solo slots on piano and organ. It
was his solo Köln Concert (1975) which opened the door
to jazz for a generation of new listeners and established ECM financially, as
it became the all-time best-selling solo jazz album (and all-time best-selling
piano album) with over 3.5 million copies.
Jarrett
is a divisive figure, famously ranting at audiences for coughing during his
creative moments, while often indulging himself with (distracting and
ludicrous) vocal accompaniments ranging from grunting to tuneless
singing. His perceived high-handedness has inspired stories such as the
jazzer who gets to heaven and hears some beautiful music. He asks St. Peter
who's playing: "Oh, that's God. He thinks he's Keith Jarrett".
I
first encountered him on Miles' 70s Live Evil followed by
the Köln Concert, but I have later come to love the wonderful
"European Quartet" ECM recordings (especially My Song),
with Garbarek, Danielsson and Christensen, and his many remarkable Standards
Trio albums (with Peacock and DeJohnette).
Enough
of the past, how does the latest concert compare with a long list, and more
particularly, the landmark Köln Concert? His creative
process has changed from long, freeform and more or less continuous songs, into
"medleys" of shorter, well defined pieces. I for one find this to be
a more digestible format, and maybe easier for him to present musical ideas
more coherently. In this style, the Munich Concert has two CDs
of 12 improvised tracks (I-XII) averaging 6 minutes in length. The opener is
the longest at some 14 minutes, but some are short and sweet - done and dusted
in three or four minutes.
This
is, unsurprisingly, a more mature and nuanced Jarrett. That's not to say his
early work was not musically mature: his 70s albums were densely written,
complex in places and of course, with massive technical accomplishment.
But the Jarrett of this century sounds more relaxed. The frantic, helter
skelter, sometimes showy pyrotechnics of his 70s work has given way to deeper
and more considered moods. This is good news for those who decried the
schmaltzy and excessive passages of the Köln Concert, but I can't
help feeling it was that very exuberance that gave birth to the wholesome
melodic and rhythmic inventions which characterised that album.
This
offering does have gorgeous passages, from his characteristic tuneful ballads
through to up tempo blues romps. Track III builds to a bluesy feast, with
trademark smears of crunchy chords. Track IV with a rolling left hand blues is
followed by limpid Debussy-like impressionism, (with hints of Rachmaninov 2?!).
The melodic blues and ballads are punctuated by more dissonant constructions
and harmonic block chordal work outs.
While
the improvised recital is well crafted with contrasting sections, there is palpable
relief when the intensity subsides to three closing standards - the normal
routine for Jarrett's solo outings. Answer Me My Love and It’s
a Lonesome Old Town are given gorgeous and reverent treatments, and
the Somewhere Over the Rainbow encore does indeed sound
divine.
Altogether,
this is a worthy offering to the altar of ECM on its landmark 50th anniversary,
but not a landmark in itself. I'd wholeheartedly recommend a listen for those
who know the Köln Concert, but don't expect the raw exuberance of
the 70s - instead find the complex and pensive mood reflective of our times.
Chris Kilsby
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