Discography

20110727 Keith Jarrett Trio (di)

Keith Jarrett (p) Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette,

London,Uk

From The Guardian By John Fordham

Over his momentous four-decade career – much of it spent in the company of this trio, who have sold out the Royal Festival Hall – Keith Jarrett has done everything he could to make audiences sense the illuminating precariousness of improvisation. His occasional on-stage rants about listeners coughing or taking his picture have not been the posturings of a prima donna, but signs of a kind of innocent hope that – for the duration of a gig, at least – his witnesses might be distracted by nothing but their feelings about each passing musical moment.

In search of that transported state, Jarrett often begins tentatively, and his trio's latest London show was no exception; a sound-balance that weighted Jack DeJohnette's drums against the piano volume didn't help, either. But the pianist's longer lines soon began to swell out of softly curled short figures on Dave Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way and against the rocking riff of Basin Street Blues. Clifford Brown's bop blues Sandu brought the band to the boil, with DeJohnette's brushwork bumping and nudging the piano lines and Gary Peacock's bass weaving through the spaces, before an exquisite Answer Me My Love brought out all Jarrett's legendary delicacy and eloquence in the unveiling of a ballad's secrets.

Jarrett's own Bop-Be snapped the second set into action with a torrent of silvery runs and sly pace-changes. Yesterdays was a reverie of rippling impressionism, Ornette Coleman's When Will the Blues Leave brought an astonishing solo of flurrying snare-patterns and rattling rimshots from DeJohnette, and the pianist's famously funky account of God Bless the Child launched a succession of encores that wound up on a jubilantly swinging When I Fall in Love. The gig didn't see Jarrett at his most blazing, but it was upbeat, inventive and left a very warm feeling in its wake.

From Martin Booth

We were up near the top, so we just headed out to the balcony in the interval, sorry to have missed you.
As for the concert: I knew it would be wonderful, but even so it surpassed my expectations. No matter how many recordings you listen to, there is no substitute for the live experience; and we were lucky it was in the RFH, where the sound is excellent, rather than the godawful Barbican (maybe Jarrett refuses to play there?)
We all know Jarrett is a magnificent artist, but what really got me was the lyricism of his playing in the literal sense - it sounds corny, but he really can make the piano sing. He was in expansive mood, with lots of dazzling runs and flourishes, but not one note seemed out of place. And of course the interaction with Peacock (who could have been louder for my taste) and DeJohnette is now pretty much at telepathic level.
There was plenty of variety - bebop blues ('Sandu'), gospel funk ('God Bless the Child'), gentle swingers ('In Your Own Sweet Way'), gorgeous ballads ('When I Fall in Love'), gut-bucket slow-drag ('Basin Street Blues'), and even some hairy free-form stuff which I didn't recognise. The highlight for me was a stunning 'Yesterdays' in the second half, articulated with the sensitivity of a Bill Evans, but followed by a Jarrett solo of intense drama all his own. That was only the start: during Peacock's solo DeJohnette doubled the tempo, and then developed a collective improvisation with the others concentrating on the tom-toms that took us all way, way away from the original tune. Then Jarrett brought everything back in, and ended the piece with some deep pools of chords, totally solo. Amazing stuff.
As regards the 'extramusical' elements; not a lot, really - Jarrett fooled around with the piano stool a bit, let DeJohnette do the 'no photographs' speech (Jarrett commented 'I can't do that any more'), and responded to a woman's shout of 'I love you' with an icy 'Everyone needed THAT'. He seems to be trying to get the 'vocalising' under control, I'm pleased to say, although it broke through at times. There were no fewer than FOUR encores, though I've since learned that that's pretty much part of the ritual at the Trio's gigs these days.

> 1. In Your Own Sweet Way (Brubeck) 13:07

> 2. Basin Street Blues (Spencer Williams) 07:15

> 3. A Bitter End/ Coda 11:33

> 4. Sandu (Clifford Brown) 05:07

> 5. Answer me my love - Mutterlein (Winkler - Rauch - Sigman) 06:44

>

> Second Set

> 1. Bop-Be (K. Jarrett) 07:17

> 2. Yesterdays (Kern – Harbach) 12:57

> 3. When Will The Blues Leave (Ornette Coleman) 6:01

>

> Encores

> 1. God Bless The Child (Holiday - Herzog) 13:03

> 2. Once Upon A Time (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) 06:06

> 3. One for Majid (Pete La Roca Sims) 05:39

> 4. When I Fall In Love (E. Heyman-V. Young) 05:42

20111021 Keith Jarrett Trio

Keith Jarrett (p) Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette,

Chicago,IL

20111026 Keith Jarrett Trio

Keith Jarrett (p) Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette,

Los Angeles,Ca,UCLA

Better than...any other piano trio on the planet.

Last night the trio of pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Jack DeJohnette gave one of their few North American live appearances of 2011. The rarity of the performance, combined with the reputation of the trio, meant Royce Hall was sold out well in advance.

Jarrett and DeJohnette's relationship dates back to the mid-1960's, when DeJohnette brought Jarrett to the attention of saxophonist Charles Lloyd. The group's 1966 recording Forest Flower was popular enough with the era's burgeoning youth movement that Bill Graham brought the band to the Fillmore West in San Francisco. When Lloyd's group broke up in 1968, DeJohnette and Jarrett moved to Miles Davis's band, and they stuck around for the years immediately following the release of Davis' groundbreaking Bitches Brew.

Jarrett began recording solo piano for the German ECM record label in 1971. Producer Manfred Eicher gave Jarrett near-complete control of the musical content of the recordings, which Jarrett thrived on. In 1977, Eicher recorded bassist Gary Peacock with DeJohnette and Jarrett as the backing players, and later suggested that Jarrett team again with DeJohnette and Peacock for a recording under Jarrett's leadership. That trio's first output, Standards Vol. 1 set in motion a group that has gone on to 19 albums and continuous sold-out appearances worldwide for nearly three decades. ECM is scheduled to release a new solo recording from Jarrett, Rio, on November 8th.

Last night the trio began with the jazz standard "On Green Dolphin Street." Jarrett opened with the first solo, followed by Peacock, and then a traded section of brief solos between Jarrett and DeJohnette. The second selection was a playful version of Duke Ellington's "Things Ain’t What They Used To Be," which brought on the evening's first sustained applause. Next was another standard, "You Don't Know What Love Is", featuring Jarrett's piano in opening interplay with DeJohnette's cross sticking against his drumkit's rims, eventually concluding with a Middle-Eastern influenced improvisation between all three members. A somewhat more obscure tune, "Answer Me My Love," followed, which was made popular by Nat King Cole. It opened with Jarrett combining with DeJohnette's deft touch of mallets to cymbals. The bluesy final number of the first set featured the evening's longest solo from Peacock.

The second set began with "Bye Bye Blackbird," which included alternating trades between Jarrett and DeJohnette that ended with the drummer lightly playing only his kick drum. Next was "My Funny Valentine," which opened with Jarrett's deft solo piano before leading into Peacock's bass and DeJohnette on mallets, before the latter switched to the gentlest of brushes. "Valentine" is a song that's played so often that many renditions have become stale, but Jarrett's closing solo piano made it one the highlights of the night. An uptempo version of "Autumn Leaves" was next, which may have provided the evening's best example of the trio's effortless interplay and uncanny dymanics control, with the group rising and falling in unison. "When I Fall In Love" ended the second set, leading to an extended standing ovation.

The trio returned to offer a gospel-tinged "God Bless The Child", which was followed by a second standing ovation. The evening concluded with a second encore in "I Thought About You", fittingly ending with a final gentle solo from Jarrett. As in nearly everything else presented from the stage, unison was the watchword for the night, with the group bowing as one for a final time.

Personal Bias: The trio's ability to probe personal emotions, such as that of a 1986 video performance of the song "Blame It On My Youth" remains likely to evoke tears.

The Crowd: Hushed and respectful, the audience prompted none of Jarrett's well-publicized reactions or program stoppages for coughing or other disturbances. Multiple standing ovations brought forth several curtain calls and two encores.

Random Notebook Dump: L.A. based jazz luminaries were out in force for the evening, including Hubert Laws, Tierney Sutton, John Beasley, Ruslan Sirota, Don Heckman, and Denise Donatelli, who also hails from Jarrett's hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
First Set:
On Green Dolphin Street (B. Kaper – N. Washington)
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
You Don't Know What Love Is(DePaul – Raye)
Answer me my love - Mutterlein (Winkler - Rauch - Sigman)
?(Blues)

Second Set:
Bye Bye Blackbird (R. Henderson)
My Funny Valentine(Rodgers - Hart)
Autumn Leaves (J.Prevert – J. Cosma – J. Mercer)
When I Fall In Love (E. Heyman-V. Young)

First Encore:
God Bless The Child (Holiday - Herzog)

Second Encore:

I Thought About You (Van Heusen -Mercer)