Record Reviews

KEITH JARRETT ~ FACING YOU ECM 1017 (Barcode: 602517758452) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1971 Released: 2008 This monumental and revolutionary album was the first release by US pianist / composer Keith JarrettFind albums by this artist on the (then) very young German ECMFind albums on this label label. In retrospect, from a 40 years perspective, it´s obvious that it was a pivotal point as much for Jarrett as for ECM, with both names achieving legendary status in years that followed this recording. It was also the first solo piano recording by Jarrett, opening a completely new musical universe for him and for music connoisseurs, a path he was about to follow almost in parallel to his more conventional Jazz recordings and later Classical music recordings. Jarrett´s solo piano performances are mostly improvised and present a mind-flow of on-the-spot spontaneous music creation, which requires total concentration and a trance-like state of mind by the artists. The approach on this, first of a kind recording, is however transitional, as Jarrett plays here mostly pre-composed material, which is expanded by his improvisations, but is altogether less spontaneous then his later recordings of this type. Therefore this is a perfect introduction to his solo piano work, serving as a process-in-progress showcase. Of course the music and the performance lost absolutely nothing of its beauty and power over time and it´s still a superb piece of music. I can´t imagine anybody not having this in their music collection.

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