The Jazz Owl
  • Travis Rogers, Jr. -- The Jazz Owl
  • A Love of Music
  • Music Reviews
  • Reviews on Travis Rogers Jr.
  • Meetings with Remarkable People
  • SoulMates by Candlelight
  • Music in Portland
  • Toshi Onizuka
  • The Arts: Film, Literature and More
  • A Love of History
  • Baseball Stories
  • Personal Reflections

Keith Jarrett's talent for composition shows "No End"

11/21/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
“How could I have left this in a drawer all these years?” Keith Jarrett asks himself in the liner notes to his forthcoming double-album “No End.” The CD is due to be released on November 26, 2013 and will cause the listener to ask the same question.

Recorded at Cavelight Studio in Jarrett’s home in 1986, it represents a hitherto undocumented exploration in Jarrett’s composing and multi-instrumental performance where, surprisingly, the piano is not the featured instrument. Rather, Jarrett plays electric guitar, electric bass, drums and percussion amidst tribal dances of Jarrett’s own devise. 

He describes the studio as “a drum set in the corner. Tablas and percussion, instruments of all kinds strewn around the room.” He recalls the deep red Gibson solid-body and the blond wood classic Fender bass.

Describing the improvisation, Jarrett says “There was really, to my knowledge, no forethought or ‘composition’ (in the typical sense) going on; just a feeling or a rhythmic idea or a bass line concept or melody. But none of this was written down. Beginnings and endings were either hit-or-miss or just plain astoundingly intuitive.”

Most surprisingly, he states that “I have always been drawn to instruments that you touch directly, without a mechanism in between. Therefore I cannot say I have ever loved the piano as much as the drums or guitar. Although I have a reputation for being in the acoustic world, I have always loved electric guitar.”

This stands in distinct contradiction to his previously stated position as being anti-electric as some of his liner notes from the mid-70s disclose as well as various interviews in Jazz magazines. All that, however, is easily overlooked once hearing this incredible album.

The album is presented in two CDs with each disc containing 10 tracks. The tracks are listed simply as their track numbers.

The first disc and the first track grabs you from the opening. The light percussion with the delicate electric guitar on top is quickly seen instrumentally as anything unheard from Keith Jarrett before. The melody, however, is pure Jarrett. There is an almost Eastern meditative feel to it. In fact, the feeling is very reminiscent of “Reading Sacred Books” from the “Sacred Hymns” album. The Gurdjieff effect is in full force here.

Picture
The second and third tracks are similar to each other in the cool kind of funk-soul groove. The guitar is cool and unobtrusive. The third track is a little more soulful and can almost put the listener in a Curtis Mayfield mindset.

The fourth track is more exploratory in the rhythmic sense. Even Jarrett’s guitar approach is more percussive and turns the whole piece into an organic exposition of rhythms. That exposition is nearly stream-of-consciousness in its liquidity and flow.

There is a quick turn in the fifth track as Jarrett generates a Gospel/Folk feel with his vocalizations and percussion. It is the vocal swing that catches the attention here. In fact, it must be that the vocals were recorded first and became the foundation for the instrumentation.

One of the jazziest pieces of the entire album is the succeeding piece that recall some of the “Sun Bear Concerts” sublime moments. Here the guitar work is foremost but the doubled drum hits create and almost triumphant march beneath the cool and quirky guitar.

Jarrett follows this with a return to soul in a Donny Hathaway sense. There is a bit of a country swing to the guitar with the funky rhythmic undercurrent. Country over soul brings “Valdez in the Country” to mind.

The eighth and ninth tracks are tribal rhythms with meditative guitar lines. The ninth track starts with raga imagery alongside the steady shaker and tabla lines. A delightfully punctuating guitar brings the attention to the melodic meditation.

Track Ten closes the first disc beautifully in its sweet chord changes and ascending melody. It is a piece born of imagination and illumination. Probably my favorite piece from the whole project.

The second disc further explores the rhythmic tapestries woven by Jarrett. The first track is another study in vocalizations underscoring the Native American rhythms. Atop it all is a guitar movement that recollects The Doors, of all sources! One begins to understand that perhaps every music ever heard by Jarrett is being channeled on the album and he surrenders to that impulse splendidly.

There is a certain inevitability to the second track in its pacing and tone. It is captivating and inspiring. A dual melody between bass and guitar develops that occasionally interweave then separate again.

Rhythmic considerations take over the third and fourth tracks with a bluesy guitar developing in the former piece. While the drumming carries that piece, the guitar and bass are extraordinary and present a nearly progressive jazz front in their structure and execution. The latter of the two tracks features cymbal dominance in the percussion and is a very intriguing approach which allows for the surprise late in the piece as it transitions from avant-garde to a rhythm and blues groove.

A sweet melody over strident drums is the hallmark of the fifth track. At this point, one begins to wonder if the album was going to start getting repetitive but those fears are allayed by the fascinating reminiscence in the piece.

The sixth tracks opens with a hot intra-jam between Jarrett and Jarrett. It recalls the opening jam of Transatlantic’s “Suite: Charlotte Pike.” If anything, the tracks get progressively more interesting and more spellbinding.

Tracks 7 and 8 sound as though they might be two movements of the same suite. One flows easily into the next and are both built on similar rhythmic patterns with the former piece featuring overdubbed vocalizations, giving it a tribal chant atmosphere.

The penultimate piece carries an accelerating sense that is a great set-up for the final track of the CD and album which contains aboriginal droning vocalizations from Jarrett. The underscoring percussion fashions a solid base for the guitar work.

The whole album is a work of rhythm and melodic rhyme. It springs from a love of instruments that require no intermediary--such as the hammers of a piano--to generate the sound. In a very visceral way, Jarrett has shortened the distance between the composing heart and the expectant ear.

0 Comments

Keith Jarrett and Michelle Makarski Uncover Bach-- Six Sonatas for Violin and Piano (ECM, 2013)

9/30/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Bach composed these six sonatas for violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014-1019) over the course of decades until the last years of the Köthen period where he served as musical director to the prince’s court there. A Calvinist court, the composing of cantatas and masses and passions were set aside for more instrumental works such as the Brandenburg Concerti, The Well-Tempered Klavier and more. In the middle of those monumental works, Bach composed these six sonatas for violin and harpsichord.

It is a mistake of some music enthusiasts to think of this collection as something minor. Rather, all the magnitude of even St. Matthew’s Passion can be found condensed into these works for two instruments. Not only are these sonatas magnificent, they are groundbreaking in the use of the keyboard as something more than an accompanying instrument. In Bach’s customary democratic way, he places the violin and keyboard on equal footing and creates the basis for the sonata for two instruments or duo-sonata. [Hans Eppstein, “Sechs Sonaten für Violine und Klavier,” 1973]

The present recording of these six sonatas is every bit as adventurous as the great Bach intended. The difference is evident from the opening moments of the first movement of the first sonata. Departing from Glenn Gould and Jaime Laredo, moving far ahead of Gustav Leonhardt and Sigiswald Kuijken, Keith Jarrett and Michelle Makarski lead us into the heart of what C.P.E. Bach called “among the best works of my dear father” and perhaps into the heart of Johann Sebastian Bach himself.

Jarrett has recorded Bach for ECM before but this is only the second time in which he has recorded Bach on piano instead of harpsichord.  The first instance was the 1987 recording of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Buch 1. This is also his first classical recording since the 1998 recordings of the Mozart Piano Concertos.

Michelle Makarski is the violinist on this album. Schooled in classical music, she is also adept in jazz improvisation. Her first appearance with ECM was thanks to Keith Jarrett, as well. She guested on his 1994 ECM release Bridge of Light soloing on “Elegy for Violin and String Orchestra” and in duet with Jarrett on “Sonata for Violin and Piano.” The results were astonishing and ECM took sure notice. She appeared with the likes of Tomas Stanko on From the Green Hill (2000), the Hilliard Ensemble and others, as well as her own solo recordings Caoine (1999), Elogio per un’ombra with guest Thomas Larcher (2000) and To Be Sung on the Water (2006) with guest viola virtuoso Ronald Copes.


Jarrett and Makarski began exploring these six sonatas over Christmas in 2008. For the next many months, this music became the centerpiece of weekend meetings. Makarski recalls that the music was far from casual. “Think of it as a time-lapse exposure,” she states. “You don’t need to decide anything; you just watch. In our case, we just listened.”
Picture
Having chosen to document the music, Jarrett and Makarski recorded the six sonatas at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in November, 2010. Makarski explains the “Even after deciding we’d like to record, the process didn’t much change. What you have is an organic long-term process of exploration and deep listening. It is a kind of momentary document of a joyously renewed friendship.”

While Makarski must certainly be referencing the renewed friendship of herself and Jarrett, the long-time listener of Keith Jarrett will ask whether this might also apply to the old friendship between himself and Bach. Certainly Jarrett returns to Bach with a new vigor, a new understanding, a new heart.

The Adagio from Sonata No. 1 in B minor (BWV 1014) opens warmer, more emotional than any other recording of the work. Jarrett’s earlier Bach recordings have been labeled as “staid” or “straight” or even “stiff.” Not so here and now.

Jarrett and Makarski depart from the well-traveled road immediately and with great enthusiasm. Where others have introduced the Adagio with staccato phrasing, Jarrett opens with legato and the warmth is evident immediately. It is not Jarrett’s jazzy rhythms that astound here, it is his sustained notes. Michelle Makarski duets flawlessly with him.

Is it unorthodox? Yes. Is it wrong? Never. An analysis of the Urtext of Bach’s manuscripts quickly shows that Bach did not include notations for legato, staccato or any other embellishments. In fact, the practice of Bach’s time was to allow the performer great freedom for the development of phrasing within the realm of what was appropriate to the ear.


Picture
Critic Zachary Lewis comments that “Makarski eschews authenticity in favor of elegance and intimacy.” If, by authenticity, he means staying within the bounds of the accepted performance canon, he is correct. However, Jarrett and Makarski are completely authentic in that very intimacy.

It has been a well-worn and mistaken belief that Bach is “cold” or “analytical” or “mathematically precise.” What Jarrett and Makarski reveal in such splendid detail is the soul of Bach and it is warm and sad and joyous.

One exquisite example is the sweet and melancholy Sonata No. 4 in C minor (BWV 1017). The 1st movement is the languid Largo with its deep sense of absence. Makarski uncovers every hidden pain and lays them on the altar of honest anguish. The 2nd movement is a tumultuous Allegro with its demanding and unbending requirement of virtuosity. The 3rd movement is the tranquil Adagio that offers respite and serene escape before the Allegro of the 4th movement grapples with the listener like the final struggle of Jacob and the angel.

This is immediately followed by the deep and soulful Sonata No. 5 in F minor (BWV 1018). This is the “de profundis clamo ad te” of the book. Perhaps the greatest of the six sonatas, the poignant and powerful Largo is as deep and moving as any music anywhere and Jarrett pours what must be his own melancholy into the performance of it. Makarski responds with her own “groanings that cannot be uttered” to create a moment of the most penetrating self-examination. It is the gathering storm before the downpour of the Allegro. In the wake of the maelstrom comes the reflective heartbreak of the Adagio. It is the Vivace of the 4th movement that stands astride suffering and urges us onward .

In this collection are six sonatas in six different keys—three major and three minor. Bach is nothing if not symmetrical. Each sonata is composed in four movements, with the sole exception of the sixth Sonata in G major which has five movements.

The regulated structure of each sonata is a graceful first movement, followed by a fast movement, with a slow, profoundly sweet third movement and a fast (presto, vivace or allegro) fourth movement. Within that framework, Bach explored the keys of B minor, A major, E major, C minor, F minor and G major, respectively.

Jarrett and Makarski follow that roadmap—with all its keys and tempos—to enthrall, embrace and enchant. Along the way there are moments that can only be created when the most sublime music is performed by the most empathic of musicians—musicians who know and, more importantly, feel what the composer set out to create.

Wondrously, this is what Keith Jarrett and Michelle Makarski have achieved together, to make us say “Surely, this is how it was meant to be.”



~ Travis L. Rogers, Jr.

1 Comment

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Aaron Parks
    Akira Ishiguro
    Ches Smith
    Chuck Van Haecke
    Dewa Budjana
    George Colligan
    Goh Kurosawa
    Helen Sung
    Jack Dejohnette
    Kai Kurosawa
    Keith Jarrett
    Matt Mitchell
    Oscar Noriega
    Osmany Paredes
    Peter Erskine
    Pseudocidal
    Ruben Rodriguez
    Sharp Three
    Simakdialog
    Steven Kroon
    Susan Clynes
    Thierry Maillard
    Tim Berne
    Tim Berne's Snakeoil
    Tom Guarna

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.