Search - Keith Jarrett :: Radiance

Profound

o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 05/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps it was his battle with fatigue and stress, but ever since the CD, THE NIGHT ALONE WITH YOU, Jarrett's intensity has taken on an ever more profoundly reverent regard for silence, for what is not uttered, for what is and must be left unsaid because our deepest spiritual aspirations can only approximate and in some way parenthesize what id ineffable. It is what is in Music itself that calls upon musicing to articulate, to clear a ground, to shine and glimmer in a night, not so it can radiate in its own glory, but so that it can remind us of what remains left unsaid. In dwelling so poetically, Jarrett has through his trio and solo work, always sought what breathes when all else goes quiet. Rapturous at times, melodic, abstract, the considerations on this disc operate from a spontaneity that he deliberately attempeted to avoid thinking about and planning for.

The results are profound. Possibly his very finest work to date. The audience was with him all the way on this, even though he notes that they were likely as unprepared as he was. Some sections end without applause, startling both him and his listeners. In the end, there is a silence before the enthusiasm that speaks volumes for hwat they have done together. He hesitated to remove audience coughing and his own sounds, gracefully at a minimum, and reinserted them because they somehow further articulated what was perhaps uneasiness on one or the other's part.

This is not simply improvisational. This is spontaneous. This is Music announcing itself through the hands of one man hitting notes, chords, motifs that either occur or are delivered whole through him, to point back to what it is in the human soul that so desperately needs Music in a world so noisy, so full of things, that something as ephemeral as this would have so everlasting an effect seems at direct odds with our reifying existence. This music belongs to no one and yet infuses all of us, as though we belong to it, and to what it leaves unsaid about the very truth of our lives.

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Exquisite New Solo Work

Juan Mobili | Valley Cottage, NY USA | 05/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To sit and listen to Keith Jarrett's piano, particularly when it entails his solo improvisations on the piano, puts me in a state of awe before the first note is touched on his keyboard. Yet, saying this stems less from the faithful love of a long-time fan but rather from the recognition of the quality and depth of a man's work over so many years.



"Radiance," his first solo offering in many years, can only reaffirm my appreciation and anticipation for the depth and range of moods he has me accustomed to, with his recordings.



Throughout the seventeen pieces selected for this double CD release, Jarrett, again, conjures up moments of sublime tenderness and vivid and soulful conflict.



Not knowing in much detail about his ordeal with chronic fatigue, the compositions included here seem to portrait the range of emotions of a man that has gone through a journey of initiation.



At times, through melodies that evoke a profound sense of personal peace or bound to stir some ancient pains, whether the notes seem to flow or be painfully forced out of a difficult confession, the album as a whole confirms Jarrett's artistic stature and the maturity and deep honesty of his current work.



Jarret's a virtuoso, yet this not only accounts for his exquisite technique but, even more, for the troubled vulnerability he can express so vividly on each of these pieces. It's hard not to be moved by the wondrous combination of blissful and disturbing truths coming out of his piano.



So, my awe has been more than justified, and my gratefulness for a work of such emotional and austere beauty cannot sufficiently do justice to what you are about to hear in these two CDs.



This is one of the most moving, intelligent and courageously vulnerable sets, in any genre, I have heard in a long time."

Radiant

Samuel | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title (and cover art) of the album aptly describe the music. Keith Jarrett is back with a solo recording. This 2 CD set contains the full Osaka concert (October 27, 2002) and excerpts from the Tokyo concert, given 3 days later (October 30, 2002). This solo recording is different from others in that the format of the improvisations are in "pieces", ranging from 1:27 (Part 11) to 13:33 (Part 10) from the Osaka concert, and not the usual approx. 30-45 minute improvisations we've heard before. Although this format might render the recording fragmentary and partial, it is very coherent. The concert(s) flow with an ease and one can always sense a common thread. As Jarrett himself puts it in the linear notes: "The first 13 tracks are discrete pieces drawn from each previous piece [...] The second piece would not have existed without the first, etc." The tracks are spontaneous, impetuous, abstract, tension building without much resolving, and fascinating (my favorite pieces are Part 8 followed by Part 6).



After a second listening, one can sense connections to his other solo recordings, jazz with standards trio, and a touch of classical.



The last 4 pieces from the Tokyo concert fits in perfectly, and have much in common with the Osaka pieces. Personally, I would have prefered the full Tokyo concert on disc as the released tracks do not give justice to the concert (I have heard it in its entirety) and serves more as an appetizer for the upcoming DVD release of the full Tokyo concert later this year, in the autumn. But that is a minor disappointment, and does not affect the quality of the recording as a whole.



It has been a long waiting for the first solo recording (improvised) since La Scala. This record makes it worth it.



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