"Sound On Stone is an act of love comparable to Alice Coltrane’s completion of tracks she and John had worked on together before his death. The results are profoundly moving, full of beauty and surprise."
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett planned a major engagement with classical music in the early 1980s. His plans were cut short by a skiing accident and later by struggles with chronic fatigue syndrome, but this ECM release, marking Jarrett's 70th birthday and capturing a pair of performances from Saarbrücken, West Germany, and Tokyo in 1984 and 1985, respectively, suggests what might have been. Both performances were rapturously received in countries where audiences tend toward the undemonstrative, and it is not just Jarrett's rock-solid fan base that was responsible. The program itself represents Jarrett's most inspired choice.
The group colloquially known as “the Standards trio” has made many outstanding recordings, and After The Fall must rank with the very best of them. “I was amazed to hear how well the music worked,” writes Keith Jarrett in his liner note. “For me, it’s not only a historical document, but a truly great concert.” This performance in Newark, New Jersey in November 1998 marked Jarrett’s return to the concert stage after a two year hiatus. Joined by improvising partners Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, he glides and soars through classics of the Great American Songbook including “The Masquerade Is Over”, “Autumn Leaves”, “When I Fall In Love” and “I’ll See You Again”.
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett planned a major engagement with classical music in the early 1980s. His plans were cut short by a skiing accident and later by struggles with chronic fatigue syndrome, but this ECM release, marking Jarrett's 70th birthday and capturing a pair of performances from Saarbrücken, West Germany, and Tokyo in 1984 and 1985, respectively, suggests what might have been. Both performances were rapturously received in countries where audiences tend toward the undemonstrative, and it is not just Jarrett's rock-solid fan base that was responsible. The program itself represents Jarrett's most inspired choice.
Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Keith Jarrett with guitarist Sam Brown, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Goodwin, recorded in 1970 and released on the Atlantic label in 1971. Jarrett also plays soprano saxophone on this recording. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "Elements of pop music, rock, country and the jazz avant-garde are used in the mixture of styles and the results are quite logical".
Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Keith Jarrett with guitarist Sam Brown, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Goodwin, recorded in 1970 and released on the Atlantic label in 1971. Jarrett also plays soprano saxophone on this recording. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "Elements of pop music, rock, country and the jazz avant-garde are used in the mixture of styles and the results are quite logical".
Off the Shelf is an interesting package of different recordings Keith has collected from over the years. Most of these have been bootlegged before but here you get them in a cleaned up nicely mastered package…
During the 1970s, solo piano box sets were rare. When Keith Jarrett's monolithic, ten-LP solo box, Sun Bear Concerts, arrived from ECM in 1978, the only comparable collection was The Tatum Solo Masterpieces, a six-disc set of the pianist's '50s sides. Jarrett's five Japanese concerts from November of 1976 in Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Sapporo were completely improvised and gloriously recorded by engineer Okihiro Sugano. Most jazz critics greeted it as a seminal work that set Jarrett apart from his peers.
When he hits a mysterious minor ninth to open the first concert in Kyoto, all bets are off. For nearly 80 minutes he balances tension with release, the pastoral with the cosmopolitan…
Recorded live in Tokyo in April 2001, Always Let Me Go is Keith Jarrett's 149th concert in Japan. Joined by his long-standing partners Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, these performances are playful, explosive, somber, and completely improvised. After 20 years of working together, they trust each other (and the audience) enough to deliver over two hours of unscripted music. DeJohnette prowls through his drums like a restless cougar: he chatters, scuffles, and pounces on the skins with agility. Likewise, Peacock spoons out a concrete foundation of bass; one that bubbles as it spreads through the cracks in Jarrett's 88 keys (which serve the pianist so very well).