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.

link

pw: sgtg

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

pw: sgtg

Carla Bley at SGTG:

A Genuine Tong Funeral

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

Fleur Carnivore

Appearing Nightly

Trios

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961)

Had this, one of the greatest piano trio recordings ever made, on heavy rotation these past weeks, and realised I hadn't posted it yet.  Two albums were assembled from Bill Evans Trio live recordings at NYC's Village Vanguard on 25 June 1961 - the other one was Waltz For Debby (see links list below).

Both can be slightly spooky records to listen to, with the knowledge that the 25-year old bassist was playing his final Bill Evans Trio show before a fatal car accident two weeks later.  Sunday At The Village Vanguard was thus arranged as a tribute to Scott LaFaro, bookended by two of his compositions, and highlighting his brilliant playing throughout.  As we just had Weather Report's debut album last week, here's Miroslav Vitouš describing how the 'bass as equal-stature instrument' sound of Sunday At The Village Vanguard influenced him in the setup of early Weather Report.  Bill Evans is naturally on top form throughout as a harmonic and melodic master, and Paul Motian is the backbone of this top-tier, close-knit trio.

link
pw: sgtg

Bill Evans at SGTG:
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
The Blues And The Abstract Truth
Waltz For Debby
Undercurrent
I Will Say Goodbye

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.

link
pw: sgtg

Bill Evans Trio - Waltz For Debby (rec. 1961, rel. 1962)

I'm not necessarily going to make "jazz piano Friday" a regular feature of this blog - far too many sonic extremities still to come for that!  But for now, for the second Friday in a row, here's one of the greatest piano trios of all time in a career-best, that would come to a tragic end only days after recording.

Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident at just 25 robbed the jazz world of one of its most promising young bass players, and this album was the second live album to be drawn from these final recordings of the trio, after the more simply descriptive Sunday At The Village Vanguard (released five months previous).  Waltz For Debby has the slight edge for me - not least because of the title track, one of Evans' most beautiful original tunes ever, named for his niece.

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