New Rerelease: "Concerts - Bregenz/München" by Keith Jarrett

[Ron Thorne]

[Ron Thorne]

I had lost track of the thread on the subject of this wonderful 3-CD set of solo recordings. It's time to give it some further attention, because it's deserving of it.

This is not, strictly speaking, a true re-release, since some of these recordings have never been available prior to this offering.




Here is a review from an Amazon customer, Dr. Debra Jan Bibel, a Top 500 Reviewer:

Why these concerts from May and June 1981 have been held back for such a long time is hard to understand. The concert discs may have been released earlier [LP], but only the Bregenz came out in CD and it went out of print fast. Following these events, there was Vienna and Tokyo and Paris and La Scala, Italy, and much later Rio de Janeiro. The solo concerts of Keith Jarrett always draw audiences hoping for magic. Such occurred in Bregenz and Munich, though far less often. Jarrett then was still flowing with romantic melodies and neo-classical elements. His creative experimentation required no preliminary noisy vamping while ideas took shape. Instead, we instantly were taken on a ride where jazz, classical, and gospel roots arise and blend.

In the first disc of the Bregenz concerts, he moved from lyricism to a variety of rhythmic changes, and as a bouncing ball landing among strewn scores, we hear phrases and bars suggestive of familiar classical idioms and styles. The second track has a cohesive propulsive bassline while his right hand engages in musical play. We never know what will ensue -- a folk dance, a free jazz flicker? Next is the encore, the first of two renditions of the gospel ballad Heartland.

The Munich concert opens in softness and a search of a theme, which arises in sonority after 5 minutes. The ostinato develops into a soulful melody of obscure Central Asian form. The music spirals until its transforms into a stacato sprightly and happy dance that, alas, goes nowhere and fades. Part II continues with some wandering about. It is somewhat gossamer, without crescendo or strong melody. Finally, at 10 minutes, a rhythm develops and a song emerges to die but two minutes later into the original quietness. A new tune then arises with harmony and power, but it too fades away. And so forth until it closes with those noisy arpeggio that dominates recent albums. Part III fortunately makes amends by commencing with a jazzy spiritual ballad filled with joy. A series of pleasant positive tunes, dances, and romances (one with a touch of Bach), all short-lived, follow. The creative font of Jarrett here is well demonstrated. Part IV has Jarrett reaching into the piano for some harp-like plinkling to go along with upper register keys in an exploration of the treble. The two encores were Mon Coeur est Rouge and again Heartland. Against the earlier experiments, these lovely straightforward renditions are more than a change of pace. They leave the audience with a smile.

In summary, while Bregenz deserved to be reissued, I surmise the reason why Munich's concert was until now left behind in the CD era is because it is simply not of the high quality of performance as Bremen and Lausanne or of those solo events that followed. Still, there is much to appreciate, and the album is a worthy addition to the Jarrett fan's collection. Package notes include comments by Jarrett, an essay by Swiss critic Peter Rüedi to give some perspective to this era in Jarrett's career, and poetry by Michael Krüger.

[Ron Thorne]

From AllMusic, where you can also hear samples:


Review by Richard S. Ginell -

By the early '80s, Keith Jarrett was definitely under siege, accused of arrogance, singing along too loudly, rambling eclecticism, and other "heinous" jazz crimes, especially in the wake of the massive success of the Köln Concert seven years before, and the issue of the massive, unprecedented Sun Bear Concerts box set in 1978. Indeed, around this time, Jarrett would verbally attack music critics at his solo concerts, and the reflected paranoia is obvious in Peter Ruedi's defensive booklet essay included here, "The Magician and the Jugglers." This multi-disc set was recorded during two concerts over four days in the spring of 1981 in Bregenz, Austria, and Munich, Germany. This recording is not to be confused with the earlier, more consistently inspired Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne from 1973, which made Jarrett a star, yet the pianist was far from tapped out in these performances. He is often in his best lyrically funky form, where he makes the most out of a single ostinato idea -- particularly at the beginning of the Bregenz concert and in the middle of the Munich concert -- and his touch and exploitation of the dynamics and timbres of a grand piano are always a pleasure to hear. Even the passages of stasis or seemingly aimless rippling do not cancel out the treasurable moments and have real worth -- though for some, the string plucking near the end of the Munich show may be somewhat gratuitous. In any case, this is far more interesting and elevated music-making than that of the New Age navel-gazing imitators who were cropping up in Jarrett's wake in the early '80s en masse, and adds immeasurably to the historically unique portrait of the artist.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/concerts- ... 0000651256