Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen Sleeper: Tokyo, April 16th (1979) [remastered 2012]

The double album Sleeper contains a previously unreleased live concert by Keith Jarrett's European quartet from the '70s, recorded at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Plaza on April 16, 1979. Together with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer Jon Christensen, Jarrett performs seven of his own compositions: "Personal Mountains," "Innocence," "So Tender," "Oasis," "Chant of the Soil," "Prism," and "New Dance" the latter song being the shortest here at seven minutes, while "Oasis" clocks in at over 28 minutes!

The double album Sleeper contains a previously unreleased live concert by Keith Jarrett's European quartet from the '70s, recorded at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Plaza on April 16, 1979. Together with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer Jon Christensen, Jarrett performs seven of his own compositions: "Personal Mountains," "Innocence," "So Tender," "Oasis," "Chant of the Soil," "Prism," and "New Dance" the latter song being the shortest here at seven minutes, while "Oasis" clocks in at over 28 minutes!

The double album Sleeper contains a previously unreleased live concert by Keith Jarrett's European quartet from the '70s, recorded at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Plaza on April 16, 1979. Together with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer Jon Christensen, Jarrett performs seven of his own compositions: "Personal Mountains," "Innocence," "So Tender," "Oasis," "Chant of the Soil," "Prism," and "New Dance" the latter song being the shortest here at seven minutes, while "Oasis" clocks in at over 28 minutes!

This compilation is 3 plus hours of stuff (42 tracks), and all in good quality, chosen from his ECM career back to the mid-70s. I would call it the "highly accessible Jarrett" as it does not include any of the thorniest stuff from the solo concerts. It's mostly the Trio, the European quartet, and some encore "blues" excerpts from the solo concerts.

This compilation is 3 plus hours of stuff (42 tracks), and all in good quality, chosen from his ECM career back to the mid-70s. I would call it the "highly accessible Jarrett" as it does not include any of the thorniest stuff from the solo concerts. It's mostly the Trio, the European quartet, and some encore "blues" excerpts from the solo concerts.

This compilation is 3 plus hours of stuff (42 tracks), and all in good quality, chosen from his ECM career back to the mid-70s. I would call it the "highly accessible Jarrett" as it does not include any of the thorniest stuff from the solo concerts. It's mostly the Trio, the European quartet, and some encore "blues" excerpts from the solo concerts.

Keith Jarrett does not actually play on this CD; rather, he composed three angst-ridden pieces of varying lengths for string orchestra, over which Jan Garbarek improvises on tenor and soprano saxes. The concept is not unlike that of Stan Getz's Focus, but this music is far more static, downcast, and free of the pulse of jazz. As was characteristic of his writing then, Jarrett's string parts are mostly turgid and thick-set, indulging in weird, sliding microtones on "Windsong," weighted down by some kind of emotional burden.