Keith Jarrett
Concerts: Bregenz Muhchen
ECM Records
Last year Keith Jarrett was very busy reissuing material – Somewhere was released a couple of years after it was recorded, to time in with the 30th anniversary of his Standards trio. No End was more a cleaning out of the closet, instrumental noodlings from Jarrett the rock-guitarist. So this set of 1981 concerts is somewhere between the two other retrospective releases I guess – it’s instrumental noodlings, certainly. But it’s more in the shape we have come to expect from Jarrett, it’s him at the piano, those occasional sleep-groans and sharp grunts as he moves from stateliness and serenity to ecstasy and very nearly anger, working across the piano to push into place all that he’s learned from jazz and classical idioms. On the longer pieces here, as on other landmark recordings, Jarrett is essentially working – living – in his own space between those two genres.
There are already plenty of amazing solo performances from Jarrett on CD – but why these shows were held back is something of a mystery. He’s in wonderful form here, energetic, playful and of course melodic – the cascades of piano slow-building and then gushing, falling, rising again to spill over; so full with ideas and invention. Parts of these shows have been available previously, on vinyl and briefly on CD but this 3-disc set collects everything that was captured. For fans it’s a must-hear. Up there with some of his finest works in this setting.
But why the need for all of this spring cleaning all of a sudden? I hope to hear brand new material from Jarrett someday soon. In the meantime this will absolutely do. Parts of this are gorgeous. Some of it takes me – almost – to the same places as his landmark Koln Concert recording.
That’s the highest praise I can offer by the way.