At first glance, there's not a lot of common ground between Keith Jarrett and Jim Morrison. Morrison, a poet and rock singer. Jarrett, a jazz, classical, and improvised music pianist. Morrison, a controversial (Did he or did he not expose himself at that show?) rock celebrity. Jarrett, mostly a stranger to controversy. Morrison, dead. Jarrett, not.
One thing that has always bothered me about writings concerning Morrison is this Shaman thing. Morrison believed that an Indian spirit, a Shaman, had entered his soul. This happened when Morrison and his family came upon the scene of a terrible automobile accident. The problem with this is that this seemed to give license to all sorts of bad Morrison behavior. Sure, a person can give themselves up to the creative moment. That shouldn't write them a blank check for being a self-indulgent jerk.
Now, of course, I'm going to contradict myself by saying that "Shaman" would not be a terrible word to use when describing Jarrett and his live concert experience.
If you've never heard Jarrett play before, there are two things to be aware of. The first is his improvisations at the piano are nearly unparalleled in their beauty and unfolding energy. The second is that Jarrett tends to moan while he plays. This particular 'feature' of his work has garnered more than a little snarky commentary. While it can be distracting on first listen, it also shows just how much Jarrett can be taken over by the spirit of the music. Often a short vocal outburst will be followed by a resolution in the musical thought being played out. Honestly, it's some exhilarating stuff.
This Carnegie Hall concert, Jarrett's first solo North American show in almost ten years, provides a striking example of the subtle power of dynamically created music. Beginning with a series of improvisations that feature nearly every aspect of Jarrett's palette: fevered chromaticism, jagged angularity, spiky afterthought, warmth, melody, and romanticism. What's amazing is hearing how these sometimes disparate musical features can be woven together—a short, descending single line becomes fodder for a chord progression that wants to make you weep... before leaping back off to more modern parts unknown.
Article comments
1 - Mary K. Williams
Moaning? Is that a bad thing? ; )~
2 - Mark Saleski
tsk, tsk.
3 - Pico
Honestly, when was the last time KJ put out a bad album? I can't remember.
And no, I don't mind the la-la-la's. Just one listen to the full fledged singing on Restoration Ruin can make one more tolerant of it. OK, that was a bad album.
-P
4 - Mark Saleski
woa.....i've never heard that record....so i went to listen to some samples (****shudder****).
sounds like a bad 70's soundtrack.
5 - Pico
It was his 1968 stab at folk-rock (he wrote the songs played all the instruments, too). Thankfully, he afterwards went back to jazz and never looked back!
-P
6 - Stephen V Funk
I must confess I'm a bit mystified by all the pre- and post-release hype surrounding this CD. I mean, it's certainly good. Just about everything Keith does is worth hearing (though I haven't had the pleasure of listening to "Restoration Ruin" yet...)
But The Carnegie Hall Concert isn't that different from his solo piano Radiance CD (and the Tokyo Concert DVD.) And frankly, his new approach to dividing up his improvisations into "sections" isn't nearly as impressive or exciting as his "Koln Concert"-style epics. And -- to be honest -- I always end up hitting the Fast Forward button during those "Cecil Taylor-lite" dissonant jams that Keith seems to enjoy flexing his fingers with these days.
Maybe the audience sounds so riotous because it's so rare to be able to see Jarrett play solo these days and they're really glad to just be there in the same room with him (incidentally -- have you ever heard audience applause on a CD as gratuitously loud and extended as it is on this one?)
So anyway... yeah, it's good. But not "another Koln Concert," as ECM has been more-or-less advertising.
7 - Hugo
Soy un periodista venezolano, y un amante del jazz. Para mi las interpretaciones de Keith Jarrett fueron un hermoso descubrimiento. The Koln Concert,fue mi ticket de entrada y a partir de ahà me di cuenta de que este pianista era uno en un millon. Su capacidad de improvisar respaldada por una solida formación musical y un dominio pleno del piano, colocan a Jarret como algo excepcional. Jazzistas que improvisan en el jazz, los hay y los ha habido - algunos muy buenos-, pero Jarret esta fuera de lote. Es el mejor.
8 - Peter
Those 'Cecil Taylor' bits are the parts WORTH waiting for...listen carefully, the beauty within them trancends Jarrett's often easier resolutions.
9 - Eugene
I'd recommend just listening to Cecil Taylor. Try "Air Above Mountains".