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Whisper Not (Live In Paris) Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette Ecm Recrods, 2000
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Inside Out Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette Ecm Recrods, 2001
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Art of the Trio, Vol. 5: Progression Brad Mehldau Warner Brothers, 2001
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Reviewed by Robert Wiersema
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There's no shortage of great jazz piano players, both contemporary (Benny Green and Herbie Hancock among many others) and those who live on through the miracle of recorded music (Monk, Powell, Tatum, Evans... need I say more?). Increasingly, however, I find myself gravitating back to two pianists more than any others. Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau have been fixtures on my CD changer for some time now -- thankfully, they both have active enough release schedules to keep things new; their respective talents keep it fresh. Following an almost career-ending three year bout of chronic fatigue syndrome (and the brilliant and understated 1997 "home recording" that came from it, The Melody At Night With You), Keith Jarrett has returned to an active touring and recording schedule. While this schedule is not up to his previous frequency, his recent performances are at least equaling those of prior to his illness, and often exceeding them. Two recent live recordings -- both with his so-called Standards Trio of Jack DeJohnette on drums and Gary Peacock on bass -- illustrate Jarrett's return to form and his current prowess. Each album, however, features a vastly differing approach to performance. Whisper Not, a two disc set from a single Paris performance in July of 1999, captures the trio in full "Standards" mode, vigorously exploring, with an almost forensic eye for detail, a selection of 14 classics. The emphasis here is clearly on the bebop side of things, with Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown receiving close attention. The opening "Bouncing With Bud" sets the tone for the concert: this is a joyous piece, brilliantly played with enough insight and stylistic daring to virtually recreate it as a Trio original. The ballads, including a heartbreaking "Round Midnight," benefit from the restraint and understatement Jarrett developed during his illness, the silver lining to a very dark cloud. What stands out most from this show is the energy level, the intensity and exuberance of the playing of all three players. Almost two hours long, the show never flags and the encore, a bittersweet "When I Fall In Love" (the only of the album's tracks to have previously been recorded by the trio, on the Blue Note box set from 1994) is greeted with a thunderous ovation, a recognition that, in spite of the jazz world's worst fears, Keith Jarrett is, in fact, back. One of the hallmarks of the Standards Trio's long association has been their near-psychic sympathy and musical understanding. Their use of the standard songbook for their performances and recordings has been as a jumping-off point, an opportunity to examine the music afresh and enter fully into it, subverting it with both a technical prowess and a singularity of purposes born of their individual skills and their long association. On the appropriately titled Inside Out, the Standards Trio abandons the standards altogether, finding between the three players a free space of joyous collective improvisation. Inside Out documents two performances from London's Royal Festival Hall in July of 2000 and features almost 70 minutes of free playing. The music is firmly rooted in the blues, but shows no allegiance to it. In full flight, the Trio plays almost as a single instrument, finding a psychic awareness of one another in which all ideas of hierarchy and leadership vanish in the face of a collective experience of this particular moment, this particular note, this particular phrase. Unlike the clichés of free playing (squealing horns, cacophonous keyboards and an impression of messiness), there is no attempt here to stretch the instruments to their outer limits, no perceived need to express any emotion. Inside Out is the Zen essence of free jazz according to Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette. It's a truly beautiful album, with moments of meditative peace bookended by swinging melodic lines that come seemingly from nowhere yet are, in their way, utterly perfect. It reminds me of nothing so much as Jarrett's earlier solo recordings (among them the fabled Koln Concert and the Sun Bear box set). The pianist would clear his mind utterly before beginning, trusting in the moment, the hall, the audience and his talent to create the evening's piece, utterly unique and, in the truest Zen sense of the work, utterly fleeting. Those solo performances were impressive enough -- that Jarrett and his band mates can approach the same level of magic is stunning indeed. In a bit of a departure, Inside Out concludes with the album's only non-improvised piece: another performance of "When I Fall In Love." To truly understand Keith Jarrett, play the versions of this song from Whisper Not and Inside Out back-to-back, not to compare them or to rank them against one another, but simply to savor the seemingly infinite possibilities in a single piece of music, the emotional range of a single group of players and the power of music to transport you to someplace truly other. And speaking of someplace other... There's something magical about the Village Vanguard. Something about the hallowed Greenwich Village venue brings out the best in musicians who perform there, a legacy captured in essential recordings from John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and, of course, Bill Evans, to name but three of many (not to mention a great album from the early 1970s vintage Jarrett group). It's actually gotten to the point that I view the phrase "Live At The Village Vanguard" on an album cover as more of a recommendation than a description (and I realize that warning bells should be going off, but I've very rarely been disappointed). One of many younger musicians to risk comparison to the Vanguard's legacy is pianist Brad Mehldau. In his only seven years as a band leader, several of his albums, including his latest Progression: Art of the Trio, Volume 5, have been recorded at the club. He's acquitted himself well, certainly not embarrassing the Vanguard name. On Progression, however, Mehldau, with the able assistance of Larry Grenadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums, takes his music to a whole new level, and presents a convincing argument for his inclusion in the Vanguard pantheon. Stylistically, the classically-trained Mehldau occupies a middle ground between the lyricism of Bill Evans and the questing free-improvising of Keith Jarrett. Both influences are in evidence on Progression, but Mehldau has forged a distinctive personal style incorporating elements of both approaches yet relying on neither. On the original "Dream's Monk," for example, Mehldau plays off himself, snatches of freestyle percussiveness leading into long, lyrical lines. On the enthralling cover of Nick Drake's "River Man," Mehldau enters an altered space, with hypnotic vamping and bravura flourishes firmly rooted in the melodic and emotional textures of the song. It's one of the highlights of the two disc set. Another highlight is the Mehldau trio's approach to the standards. Their treatment of the Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern classic "Long Ago and Far Away," for example, stretches the standard to its very limits, with almost 15 minutes of inspired playing (including an absolutely stunning bass solo and some delicious Mehldau runs). Also notable is their take of "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." It's a fresh, emotionally resonant approach to the standards, grounded in the originals but with a terrific sense of play and a rich, vibrant quality. While they're not at the level of Keith Jarrett's
Standards Trio yet, there is a collective spontaneity to the
playing on Progression, the intuitive interplay that
only comes with musicians who have spent years working with
one another. Grenadier and Rossy more than hold their own
without unduly stealing attention from Mehldau, and I'd be
interested in hearing either of them in a leadership role.
Even more, I'd be curious to see how this young group would
manage in a completely improvised setting. Perhaps time will
tell... | April 2002 Robert Wiersema is a writer in Victoria, British Columbia. |
Whisper
Not (Live In Paris) Disc 2
Inside
Out
Art of
the Trio, Vol. 5: Progression Disc 2
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