1. Deep Space/Solar
2. Stars Fell on Alabama
3. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
4. Somewhere/Everywhere
5. Tonight
6. I Thought about You
Keith Jarrett - Piano
Gary Peacock - Double bass
Jack DeJohnette - Drums.
This is Keith Jarrett's "Standards Trio" which was formed in 1983 at the suggestion of ECM's Manfred Eicher. The group is thus 30 years old, and the anniversary is celebrated by this album - although it is actually a recording which was made in 2009 at the KKL Luzern Concert Hall.
The music doesn't start witth a jazz standard but instead takes a leaf out of Keith Jarrett's solo concerts with a chunk of free improvisation called Deep Space. After Jarrett has been doodling for a while, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette join in, although it is all rather shapeless - even when it segues into Miles Davis's Solar. This track outstays its welcome at 18 long minutes. Stars Fell on Alabama is more welcome because one can recognise its melody, although Jarrett again tends to drift and Gary Peacock's bass solo is not notable for tunefulness.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is, for me, the best track on the record, as the tune is played with an adventurously dislocated rhythm, which is matched by DeJohnette's feverish drum solo. Somewhere is the first of two songs from West Side Story but Jarrett repeats what he did with the opening track, descending into a different tune (his own Everywhere) which is based on a two-note ostinato that soon gets on one's nerves. Tonight is the other item from West Side Story and it swings comfortably without providing much startling originality in the piano solo or the drum solo.
The concert ends with I Thought about You, which is delivered as a temperate ballad exhibiting a delicate touch from Jarrett. But I wish he wouldn't moan and groan so loudly when improvising. To sum up, this album has its moments but it is not particularly better than many other piano trio recordings. And I come to the same conclusion as I reached about Keith Jarrett's previous album, Rio.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
ECM 276 6370
