Discography

Keith Jarrett: The Carnegie Hall Concert (2006)

JOHN KELMAN, 

Published: September 19, 2006

With the release of Radiance (ECM, 2005), Keith Jarrett made a triumphant return to improvised solo piano performance. The 2002 recording was the first live solo piano performance to be released sinceLa Scala (ECM, 1997), and it reflected a change in Jarrett's approach to solo improvisation. That change continues on The Carnegie Hall Concert, a complete show from the fall of 2005 that's less radical in some ways, but still has a few surprises.

With Radiance, Jarrett moved away from the longer stream-of-consciousness improvisations that characterized his earlier solo records. Instead, he now performs a discrete series of shorter improvisations, where each part is meant to suggest where the next one will go. The improvisations on Radiance did appear to have an inexorable, logical flow from one to the next. However, the ten improvisations that make up the main body of The Carnegie Hall Concert seem less directly connected.

That doesn't mean they aren't broadly evocative. Jarrett brings together diverse musical references, from the angular classicism of "Part 1" to the darker impressionistic beauty of "Part 3." The two-chord left-hand vamp of "Part 2" allows him to build more easily discernable improvisations with his right; his by now legendary vocalization of melodic ideas provides a clear window into the translation of concept to execution.

The performance feels darker and more abstract than Radiance, but there are still rays of light. "Part 7" is a gospel-tinged piece that separates and contrasts the jagged "Part 6" and hauntingly melancholic "Part 8." The more complex ideas of "Part 9" show just how big a picture Jarrett can conceive on the fly, while "Part 10" ends the main concert on an ambiguous note, around a minor-keyed pedal tone that gradually slows to a stop.

The surprise of the release is the encore. While the main show improvisations are untitled, Jarrett performs two new titled originals here: a romantic Americana piece appropriately called "The Good America" and a barrelhouse blues, "True Blues. Jarrett ends the encores with a calming look at the standard "Time on My Hands."

But the biggest surprise is hearing Jarrett perform his classic "My Song," the title track from his 1978 ECM album, and "Paint My Heart Red," a reworking of "Mon Coeur Est Rouge" fromConcerts (ECM, 1982). This is the first time he's dug back into his own repertoire, and it's something he should do more often. Jarrett is a masterful improviser, but he's also a fine composer. While he's been less interested in overt composition for many years, he may be changing his mind, or at least so the encore suggests.

Curious, however, is the applause between tracks—in some cases nearly three minutes long, adding up to nearly nineteen minutes in total. Exciting as it may have been to be there, the lengthy audience noise does nothing but defeat the recorded program's continuity.

As strong as the main concert is, the encores of The Carnegie Hall Concert are what differentiate it from previous Jarrett solo recordings. Hopefully it signifies a new direction that combines pure, unfettered improvisation, reference to past works and more clearly form-based composition.

Track Listing: CD1: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5. CD2: Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10. Encores: The Good America; Paint My Heart Red; My Song; True Blues; Time on My Hands.

Personnel: Keith Jarrett: piano.

20051014 Keith Jarrett Solo (pa)

Keith Jarrett (p)

October 14th 2005, Metropolitan Art Hall, Tokyo, Japan

1. 
   Applause (0:36)
   
2. 
   Part I (13:26)
   
3. 
   Part II (3:24)
   
4. 
   Part III (4:20)
   
5. 
   Part IV (6:24)
   
6. 
   Part V (5:13)
   
7. 
   Part VI (9:28)
   
8. 
   Applause (0:28)
   
9. 
   Part VII (8:02)
   
10. 
    Part VIII (7:01)
    
11. 
    Part IX [interrupted + speech about coughing] (3:17)
    
12. 
    Part X (5:19)
    
13. 
    Part XI (6:26)
    
14. 
    Part XII (1:54)
    
15. 
    Part XIII (9:45)
    
16. 
    Applause (2:03)
    
17. 
    Speech (1:57)
    
18. 
    Part XIV (5:53)
    
19. 
    Applause (1:38)
    
20. 
    Blues (4:34)
    
21. 
    Applause (1:49)
    
22. 
    Encore II (3:23)
    
23. 
    Applause (1:48)
    
24. 
    Encore III (6:08)
    
25. 
    Applause (1:26)
    

20051017 Keith Jarrett Solo (SP)

Keith Jarrett (p)

October 17th 2005, Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan

Jarrett K. solo

Media: 2 CD-R

Sound quality: G

Source: audience recording

1. Track 1 (18.47)

2. Track 2 (5.49)

3. Track 3 (4.50)

4. Track 4 (5.17)

5. Track 5 (6.48)

6. Track 6 (15.15)

7. Track 7 (6.05)

8. Track 8 (6.56)

9. Track 9 (5.26)

10. Track 10 (7.20)

11. Track 11 (8.29)

12. Track 12 ( )

13. Track 13 (…)

20051020 Keith Jarrett Solo

Keith Jarrett (p)

October 20th 2005, Metropolitan Art Hall, Tokyo, Japan

1. Part 1 (11:11)

2. Part 2 (5:11)

3. Part 3 (5:49)

4. Part 4 (6:34)

5. Part 5 (8:17)

6. Part 6 (3:42)

7. Part 7 (9:10)

8. Part 8 (5:00)

9. Part 9 (3:56)

10. Part 10 (5:48)

11. Part 11 (15:03)

12. I Loves You Porgy(Gershwin) (7:28)

13. Blues (5:50)

14. Unknown (6:20)

20051021 Keith Jarrett Solo (pa)

Keith Jarrett (p)

October 21st 2005, Metropolitan Art Hall (?), Tokyo, Japan

1. Part 1 (09:57)

2. Part 2 (5:55)

3. Part 3 (6:31)

4. Part 4 (4:59)

5. Part 5 (5:55)

6. Part 6 (1:25)

7. Part 7 (8:10)

Set 2

8. Part 8 (11:20)

9. Part 9 (8:23)

10. Part 10 (7:13)

11. Part 11 (5:24)

12. Part 12 (4:28)

13. When I Fall In Love (V. Young – E. Heyman) (4:28)

14. encore 3 (2:26)

15 Time on My Hands (Youmans - Adamson - Gordon)7:12)