Keith Jarrett Trio - Yesterdays

Keith Jarrett Trio
Yesterdays
(2009, ECM)
RIYL: Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Vince Guaraldi, Thelonious Monk

Keith Jarrett is a legendary jazz pianist for a reason. His trio of 25 years, with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, is the most legendary jazz trio alive, and for a reason. That reason being? Give a few listens to their newest offering, Yesterdays—you tell me. But, a little about the record, just in case you need some goading… Yesterdays is a live standards album, recorded in Tokyo in 2001. The trio plays (more-or-less) straightforward jazz, and the songs on Yesterdays are, well, standards—they’ve been played by hundreds of artists, and for decades. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ve probably heard them. What, then, makes this album remarkable? Hint: the men are giants of their instruments. For years, it’s been argued that Jarrett is one of the greatest pianists of all-time (and not just as a jazz player). DeJohnette is the consummate improvisational drummer, famous for incorporating experimentation into a very classic drum style. And Peacock just freaking eats this set for breakfast. As much as Jarrett is a highlight, the bass on Yesterdays is absolutely silly when Peacock lets things go. He really makes this album his own. But talent only goes so far. (This is especially true when we’re talking jazz standards, as these tunes have been riffed on and ripped apart by every era’s greats.) What’s equally crucial is the emotionality with which these players play. They shred through “You Took Advantage of Me”, but also expand their ragtimey version to ten-minutes—it adds great, exploratory dynamic to a song that can become cheesy quickly. The Diz’n’Bird classic “Shaw’nuff” is basically strapped up to a jet propulsion engine and l-a-u-n-c-h-e-d… it takes the audience awhile to even catch up. And the ballads, welcome after joyrides like that, are played with patience and unwavering respect. They are spare, still, and stellar. After every song, you feel it’s been played the way it ought to be played, the way it must be played. That’s the truest value of this album: While Yesterdays doesn’t necessarily cover new ground for the trio, it exemplifies, again and again, what makes them great. Longtime followers won’t be let down; newcomers… dig in.

-Braying Mantis

2008 Round Up Pt. 4

More worthy releases from last year that we missed.

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone/Devin Hoff/Ches Smith
Calling All Portraits
(2008, Skykap)

Calling All Portraits is worthy of much more than I am able to say in this little space. In fact, the album is probably the instigator to the writers block I’ve had for the past couple weeks. Consisting of a veritable who’s who of the Brooklyn improve/free jazz scene, Calling All Portraits is a nimble, engaging whirlwind of a record that could only come from talent such as this. The instrumentation is as follows: Halvorson on guitar, Pavone on viola (I think), Hoff on bass and Smith on drums. Each band member takes turns leading the rest of the crew for thick ride that is equal parts composed and improvised, dealing in both free jazz and chamber classical, and all without any of fatty, unlistenable chunks that usually accompany such music. A real tour de force and probably my favourite jazz album of last year.

Murcof
The Versailles Sessions
(12.2008, Leaf)

Culled from compositions prepared specifically for a festival in Versailles in 2007, Murcof makes a bit of a departure from his patented electronics with six tracks composed solely with 17th century baroque instruments. Pitched as unique project to be consumed in-between ‘proper’ releases, The Versailles Sessions certainly holds its own as another monument to Murcof’s eclectic, powerful musicianship. Dark and brooding with a sense of an ancient world twisted into the present, The Versailles Sessions morph with a fluid ease that can only be attributed to inspiration. A beautifully dynamic disc with surprising replay value.

Arve Henriksen
Cartography
(10.2008, ECM Records)

Rune Grammofon mainstay and Supersilent co-founder, has wandered from his home label for his fourth solo release with ECM. I don’t have any background on the label change, but it doesn’t really seem to matter since the already highly esteemed Norwegian trumpeter has created such a devastatingly gorgeous release with Cartography. Extremely measured and soulful with the kind of soul that seem to only be available to the trumpet, Henriksen builds on the shoulders of his prior work with heartbreaking trumpet lines that are often accompanied by vocal specters that float and intertwine with the instrumentation. Cartography is simply gorgeous and worthy of a much better equipped write up. Probably tied with Calling All Portraits as jazz album of 2008.

-Mr. Thistle