Keith Jarrett - The Survivors' Suite (1977)

Jarrett's 'American Quartet' (with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian) at their most uncharacteristic in a through-composed suite, and quite possibly at their best.  The Survivors' Suite was written by Jarrett specifically with a concert at NYC's Avery Fisher Hall (previously Philharmonic Hall, now David Geffen Hall) in mind, the restrained tempo apparently suiting the acoustics better.

On record, the 48 minute Suite is simply split into "Beginning" and "Conclusion" over the two sides.  Most strikingly of all, Jarrett plays no piano for the first eight and a half minutes, as a sombre bass recorder/horns and percussion stretch gradually builds.  He then leaves the sax to Redman to propel the music forward in the manner more typical of Jarrett, before reaching a calm piano interlude at Beginning's halfway point.  Haden and Motian are both highlighted as the first half nears its end.  Conclusion starts out in firey group interplay mode and largely keeps up that momentum, with great solo spots along the way.  Out of Jarrett's "weird but wonderful" corner of his discography (Hymns/Spheres, Invocations etc) this is arguably the summit.

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Keith Jarrett at SGTG:
Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett 

Live-Evil
Expectations

Belonging
The Köln Concert
Hymns/Spheres
G. I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns
Invocations/The Moth And The Flame
Concerts: Bregenz/München
Setting Standards: New York Sessions
Dark Intervals
Changeless
Tribute
Vienna Concert
At The Blue Note: Saturday, June 4th 1994, 1st Set

Standards In Norway 
Tokyo '96
La Scala

Carla Bley - Escalator Over The Hill (1971)

A jazz-rock/Weill-esque opera/Indian-influenced avant-garde behemoth, complete on three LPs and later two CDs, four years in the making, from Carla Bley (composer), Paul Haines (librettist), and a cast of dozens of voices and musicians.  So much has been written about EOTH over the years that it's difficult to think what to add.  Perhaps the hundred-odd minutes of inspired insanity contained in this major labour of love are best just jumped straight in to, so here goes.

The thirteen-minute overture sits nicely alongside Bley's other work of the era in its dramatic, portentous sweep.  Then a swirl of "phantom" voices, tape effects and organ introduce the first characters, with Warhol star Viva acting as narrator throughout.  As an 'opera' (or rather, "chronotransduction"), Haines' text is so void of narrative logic it might as well be Einstein On The Beach - all that can be gleaned from the libretto is that it loosely concerns the inhabitants of a dilapidated hotel.  These include a couple named Ginger and David, who are voiced at certain points by a pre-solo fame Linda Ronstadt, and the singer from Manfred Mann who I grew up knowing as Uncle Jack.  Other voices include the musicians, such as Don Preston and Jack Bruce, as well as Bley/Mantler's daughter Karen Mantler making her debut on record, then about five years old.

The musical pieces then vary in length from under a minute to several, taking in more mind-blowing big band arrangements, small-group explosions with stinging lead guitar (check out John McLaughlin on Businessmen), gloomy piano with free-jazz skronk attacks, and more.  Eventually, the music reaches its absolute summit in the stretch corresponding to the third LP in the original box set.  A.I.R. (All India Radio) would soon be covered by Jan Garbarek among others; here it is in its original version.  The epic Rawalpindi Blues takes in more McLaughlin brilliance amid a coming together of the "Traveling Band" and the "Hotel Band", and if that wasn't enough, it gets a just-as-good nine minute coda.  One more short piece leads in to the stunning finale, which after eight and a half minutes (on record) ran into a lock-groove - on CD, this loop of humming drone plays out for nearly 19 minutes, then has a final snippet of calliope music as a 'hidden track'.  In a way, this is the ideal ending to a truly unique musical experience.

Disc 1 link

Disc 2 link

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Carla Bley at SGTG:

A Genuine Tong Funeral

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

Fleur Carnivore

Appearing Nightly

Trios

Leo Smith - Divine Love (1979)

A gorgeous, spacey (the number of jazz albums with more of a sense of 'space' than this one must be vanishingly small) masterwork from the multi-talented Leo Smith, in the years just before he adopted the name 'Wadada'.  This was Smith's first album for ECM, and a well-deserved addition to their 'Touchstones' gallery last year; he'd return to the label sporadically after Divine Love, most recently just a couple of years ago.

Sense of space, then... take the opening title track, for example.  For nearly 22 minutes, it drifts in long, languid sighs and calls from Smith and from Dwight Andrews on alto flute.  No drummer keeping time, just sporadic little clatters of percussion, occasional vibes/marimba from Bobby Naughton.  Moments of nothing but pure reverberating silence.  This is free jazz retreating from the coalface of everyone blowing at once to find zen sanctuary.

Kenny Wheeler and Lester Bowie join Smith for a three-way trumpet conversation on the shortest track Tastalun.  Even at its most full-blown, the same ambient calm prevails, like watching the vapour trails of three different aeroplanes occasionally cross over each other.  To close, Charlie Haden provides a more grounded setting for Smith, Andrews and Naughton to move around in on the 15-minute Spirituals: The Language Of Love.  There's still nothing that could be called a beat for the musicians to groove to, but Haden and Naughton do provide a bit more sense of forward motion as the track progresses.  One of the most beautifully unique albums in the ECM catalogue.

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Charlie Haden & Egberto Gismonti - In Montreal (rec. 1989, rel. 2001)

An ECM archival release where no album cover image was necessary - just the names of the two masters of their art who were involved, and an indication of the source recording: this was taped at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, on 6th July 1989, and was released 12 years later.  It's a fantastic 80 minute set of gorgeous, intimate music that showcases both bassist and guitarist/pianist for their melodic and harmonic talents.

Gismonti is heard on piano for five of these pieces, winding through some of his most beautiful tunes - I'm a sucker for a good Palhaço in any form, and the one here doesn't disappoint - and treats us to his guitar virtuosity on the other four.  Underpinning all of this is Haden's legendary bass playing, not so much framing each piece as building a rock-solid foundation beneath it, like a construction crew drilling deep into the earth.  The material is all Gismonti's apart from two Haden compositions, First Song and Silence, where the writer steps ably into the limelight as the lead instrument while Gismonti plays backup on guitar and piano respectively.  This whole album is perfect weekend contemplation par excellence.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Circense
Sanfona
Dança Dos Escravos

Keith Jarrett - Expectations (1972)

Another Jarrett post with a twist: instead of the usual record label that's released his every whim over the past five decades, here's Keith with the label (CBS) that took a punt on him by releasing a double album, no less, then unceremoniously dropped him as soon as it hit the shelves.  Who knows why - poor sales?  Expectations certainly isn't a bad record - it's a hugely ambitious blueprint for Jarrett's eclectic confidence as a player and arranger, and from this distance, a cornerstone of his discography.  Oh well, CBS's loss was Manfred Eicher's gain - and Ed Michel's, as Impulse would pick up Expectations' core quartet for the rest of the 70s.

That 'American Quartet' of Jarrett, Motian, Haden & Redman are expanded here by Airto Moreira on percussion and the underrated Sam Brown on stinging, firey guitar, with occasional string and brass additions.  After a quick orchestral curtain-raiser, Expectations gets going with the latin groove of Common Mama, a mode that will be returned to in late highlight Sundance.  Hitting a looser blues/gospel groove makes Take Me Back another highlight, and the freer jams are essential too.  There's a ton of Dewey Redman on Bring Back The Time When (If), and a rare organ performance from Jarrett on the side-long Nomads.  Notwithstanding the fact that the string dubs don't always gel, Expectations is essential Jarrett from the first minute to the 77th.

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Pat Metheny / Ornette Coleman - Song X (1986)

Or, as ECM's Manfred Eicher probably called it - the one that got away.  Imagine how much of a game-changer this phenomenal meeting of minds would've been for the German label that had nurtured Metheny for a decade, with ECM regulars Haden & DeJohnette on board, not to mention the glittering prize of having free jazz legend Ornette Coleman sharing the bill.  The artwork would've been similarly minimal under Sascha Kleis' direction, and it would've deservedly remained an ECM bestseller to this day.

Unfortunately for Eicher, come 1985 Metheny was ready for a new challenge, and parted ways with ECM to land on David Geffen's burgeoning stable.  And what a fresh start Song X was - kicking off with the lightning-speed title track, this was free jazz updated for the amphetamine-yuppie era, and would've blown Huey and Genesis out of the water if introduced to Patrick Bateman's CD collection.  The 13-minute Endangered Species goes even further out, with Metheny exercising judicious use of the guitar synth (and wisely restraining himself from it for the bulk of the album, not unlike Belonging from three years prior, also with Haden).

The second half of the album is more accesible, and mellows out considerably with the gorgeous Kathelin Gray.  The clean production throughout (another ECM similarity!) ensures that you can get the most enjoyment possible out of each contributor, without the knottier passages becoming cluttered.  A stunning high watermark in 80s jazz.

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