In order to say “happy birthday” to Keith Jarrett for his 70th, ECM has released a pair of “new” releases of Jarrett that have been in the vaults for awhile. What were they waiting for?
The first is a 2 disc set that finds Keith Jarrett performing in Tokyo with the New Japan Philharmonic conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrucken conducted by Dennis Russell Davis. Unlike attempts by jazz artists ranging from Benny Goodman to Herbie Hancock, Jarrett does not sound like a fish out of water here; rather, he sounds focused, disciplined and inspired.
The Barber Piano Concerto mixes rich orchestral dramatics with exciting yet cohesive soloing. The mix of strings and piano on the “Adagio” is an impressive mix of harmonies and digital prowess whle Jarrett shows a sophisticated gentle touch during the challenging give and take on the “Allegro Molto.” The Bartok piece has some extremely fervent moments, and Jarrett sounds like he was made for these moments, with the Eastern European strings weaving in and out of Jarrett’s work like a village breeze. The closing solo piece has Jarrett doing some wonderful improvisations that glows like embers. This is a wonderful ringer!
Creation is a series of solo improvisations ranging from 7-9+ minutes culled from 2014 concerts in Toronto, Rome, Paris and Tokyo. The moods on all IX parts are fairly uniform; lots of gentle and pastoral moods, highly reminiscent of Debussy at his most impressionistic. He shows uncanny delicacy as he is barely perceptible on the pianissimost pianissimo on “VI” while he uses a soft build up to slowly build up to a fervent melody on ‘”IV”. A bit of a dark mood creates a shadow on “VIII” but most of the time the nimbus clouds are soft and fluffy as on the gentle “I” and “II”. If they release this kind of stuff for his birthday, let’s have a celebration every year!
ECM Records