CD Review: Keith Jarrett - Rio

Keith Jarrett - Rio
(ECM 277 6645. CD Review by Chris Parker)

The level of inspiration experienced by Keith Jarrett at this solo concert, recorded in Rio de Janeiro in April 2011, can be gauged by the fact that he utters one of his celebrated involuntary groans only four minutes into it, and thereafter, the intensity never flags for a moment, building through two CDs' worth of stunningly inventive improvisation to an almost delirious pitch.

'Improvisation', of course, is merely a convenient tag as far as Jarrett's solo work is concerned; many of these pieces might more accurately be described as 'spontaneous compositions', relying as they do on repeated sequences of chords, or familiar structures from the blues or gospel music, but however they're described, the fifteen shortish pieces that make up this concert are simply spellbinding, eliciting great roars of approval from what sounds like Jarrett's ideal audience: silently attentive during the pieces, uninhibitedly supportive after they've finished.

Identifying the source of Jarrett's appeal is nearly as difficult as defining his approach, but perhaps the word that best conveys his unique connection with audiences is duende, the term used, most often in flamenco, to describe the heightened state of emotion that enables a performer to express feeling with unimpeachable authenticity. Whatever it is, though, Jarrett has it in spades, and whether he's playing peerlessly affecting ballads infused with his trademark yearning earnestness, joyously effervescent romps or simply(!) improvising on a bluesy shuffle, he performs with rare and profoundly affecting passion and sincerity throughout this superb concert, an occasion he himself describes as 'jazzy, serious, sweet, playful, warm, economical, energetic, passionate, and connected with the Brazilian culture in a unique way'.

Rio at ECM Records

The Independent newspaper, music and freedom

Drumroll. And yeah, can you try to make it last till about next Monday August 1st.

Because, believe it or not, next Monday the Independent will do something highly unusual.  It will, I am told, publish a live jazz review (Andy Gill/ Keith Jarrett) . What's the big deal? I stand to be corrcted, but I believe this to be the first review of a live jazz event in the Independent since August 2010.

So this is the way a newspaper fiercely proud to be "free from party political bias, free from proprietorial influence"  chooses to deal with jazz, or as Duke Ellington called it, the "unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom."

By way of comparison, and again according to my quick perusal of the paper's online archive, the Independent has given that talisman of freedom Britney Spears a staggering twenty-three items of coverage so far this year alone. Oops, let's do live jazz again.

Review: Keith Jarrett Standards Trio

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette

(Royal Festival Hall, 27th July 2011) 

Those untameable, disconsolate beasts, social media commentators, have been giving Keith Jarrett a hard time. Or do I mean "We...."?

Rather than paying attention to the music, there is one who posts as @angryjarrett on Twitter (strapline "Are you taping this? ARE YOU FREAKIN' TAPING THIS?"). Another goes by the moniker of @fakejarrett . And those with an appetite for controversy, or a perverse need to see the artist humbled, can be sated by tracking down a Youtube clip (160,000 views) of Jarrett losing his patience with people with cameras at UmbriaJazz in 2007.

If I have to be true to the stereotype of the blogger and complain at all about last night, then all I that can find would be that Jack DeJohnette was occasionally overbalancing. This was an approach which worked well in Ornette Coleman's "When will the Blues leave?" with rims and casings producing unusual and anarchic textures, but less so at other times.

But, in the final analysis, are the seekers-out of controversy and small gripes really representative, well, of anybody? On the evidence of last night's packed Royal Festival Hall concert by the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, it is clear that the population of devotees, accumulated over decades, is larger, by far, than that of the malcontents.

 Listen to the recent duo album Jasmine, with Charlie Haden, and the impression is of a musician getting progressively calmer, mellower. Jarrett got a reputation for petulance in a brief period about 3-4 years ago when other aspects of his life were in turmoil. Yes,  Jack DeJohnette did plead with the audience, at Jarrett's request, to put their phone-cameras away. There were warnings in the hall about taping and photographing which did come across as draconian, heavy-handed. But in the end, these are distractions, a sideshow. It is the music which has to speak for itself. And it did, consistently.

One didn't have to look very far to see the way in which the audience takes Jarrett to its heart. I noticed a man in a seat near me reaching out to find his wife's hand in the particularly melting introduction to Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays." I also read the spontaneous reaction of pianist Andrew McCormack on Facebook last night: "The intro to 'In Your Own Sweet Way' was worth the admission price alone!"

But most telling was the audience's reaction to the end of the official second set. There was whooping, cheering. A significant proportion of the spectators was up on its feet. And they were duly rewarded. The first encore, "God bless the child" was by my watch not far short of fifteen minutes long, and was followed by three others.

Reputation is a lagging indicator. Jarrett is back on form.

Produced by Serious for the South Bank Centre

Jarretting from a distance

View from the back  row of the Royal Festival Hall

Peter Bacon has decided not to go to hear the now sold-out Keith Jarrett gig this Wednesday at the Royal Festival Hall, and writes that, the experience approaches a religious rite, and that for him, the experience involves too many compromises :

"When your overwhelming memory is of how many times you have been told to switch your phone off and warned that if you so much as think of taking a picture you will have your eyes surgically removed layer by layer, or if you even emit one too heavy a breath you will be removed for insulting not only the guru Keith but all of music that has ever been played in a public place since the gargling of the first amoeba, then one has to ask: has the point been lost here somewhere?"

 (HERE'S HIS PIECE) I'm going to review the gig, with an open mind...

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/