Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - My Foolish Heart
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Free Music Notes for My Foolish Heart
Free Music Review: my favorite Jarrett recording
Hit: 5 Stars
I love this album. I have several Keith Jarrett albums and while I have always admired his technical abilities, a lot of his solos just didn't really move me. Not so on this album. The playing and soloing are amazing, absolutely beautiful on every cut. In particular, I was amazed how he took some old stride piano songs and made them sound modern, swinging hip and new again while still playing in the stride style. But the best part of the album for me is the ballad playing. I dont believe there is a better jazz ballad player in jazz history. His playing on "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" is beautiful, tender, open, gives the music room to breathe and moving. To my ears, this is Keith at his best, certainly for his more accessible recordings. Some other albums may be more avant garde or adventurous, after all this is a record of standards and not original improvizations, but none have been as much of a pleasure to listen to for me. Very highly recommended for jazz piano fans. Free Music Review: Wonderfully Swinging
Hit: 4 Stars
This new two-CD set of Jarrett's "standards" trio was recorded at a Montreux Jazz Festival concert in 2001. According to Jarrett, the concert was something special, so special that he wanted to release it on a special occasion. With the 25th anniversary of the formation of the trio nearly here, Jarrett figured it was time for this set to be released commercially. It truly is a wonderfully swinging recording that lovers of piano trio music should be lining up to audition.
What makes this recording extra special is the inclusion of three cuts done in ragtime style, including a couple of Fats Waller classics, "Ain't Misbehavin" and "Honeysuckle Rose." Hearing these three superb musicians rip into ragtime truly is a kick. Who'da thunk it?!
And there is plenty more here to enjoy. DeJohnette seems particularly inspired and energetic, having the time of his life trading back and forth with his two bandmates. Yes, Jarrett produces some groans and yelps, but no, it doesn't bother me in the least. I love every minute of this fine new release, and have been playing it over and over again at home, at work, and in my car. It energizes me in all three settings. Highly recommended...
Free Music Review: Great album!
Hit: 5 Stars
Definitely a must-have for any Keith Jarrett, jazz, and/or jazz piano fans out there. Jarrett, Gary & Jack are swingin' their a**es off as usual... Can't say I'm the biggest fan of the stride-piano/ragtime reconstructions of a couple of tunes on here... but that is only IMHO ;)Free Music Review: IMPRESSIVE AND VIVID AS ALWAYS
Hit: 5 Stars
Every live recording from this trio is a celebration and a must have .Not so strong like STILL LIVE but also an excellent and skillful live performance which deserves respect and serious listening attention .FIVE STARS FOR SURE .Free Music Review: Look ma--both hands!
Hit: 4 Stars
Much of the fuss about this album seems to concern Jarrett's revisiting of stride style on three numbers. Jarrett has never had a reputation as an underachiever, and no doubt he wishes to prove a point--not about stride piano (which as played by James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson is the most technically challenging idiom for jazz piano improvisation), but about his own eligibility to be considered on the same level as a select group of players. In the hands of the masters, the style requires two hands that can think independently, a left hand no less inventive and dexterous than the right, a left-handed finger stretch that can play and "walk" tenths at a brisk pace, an inerrant sense of placement while leaping two or more octaves for every other beat on tunes frequently played "allegro" rather than moderato, and the control to make it all cohere as an effortless, seamless whole.
If Jarrett has raised listeners' awareness and appreciation of well-played stride style, he deserves all the credit in the world. If he has impressed listeners with his versatility while simultaneously provoking dissatisfaction with a "dated," "ragtime" style, his accomplishment is less clear. Even though to my ears the pianist doesn't earn many style points for his stride piano playing, to the extent that he's willing to risk this treacherous idiom at all he deserves respect and plaudits. At the very least, he lays to rest the criticisms from some of his peers that he has a weak left hand.
A note on "ragtime": Since the word has been invoked by several reviewers, it should be noted that "ragtime" was primarily a composed "genre" (not style) of music that pre-dated both jazz and American popular song (1890-1905). No doubt Jarrett could handle the compositions of Scott Joplin et. al. if he chose to, but that's not what you're hearing on this recording. As for those who express displeasure about the pianist's continued attraction to the Sinatra repertory (i.e. the Great American Songbook), it's good to be reminded that Jarrett went there when, after the Koln Concert, he was being hailed as the father of "New Age" music and the school of George Winston, Yanni, Brickman, Tesh, etc. Just as he felt it was important then to make a point about structural integrity and the tradition, it's likely that some of the same motivation is behind his recent exploratory ventures into stride piano territory. One wonders, however, if he's aware that even Winston frequently includes in his concerts some Waller pieces played in stride style, in which case Keith might be influenced to venture down other musical paths. What's next? (Certainly he's heard Erroll Garner's head-spinning "Concert by the Sea.")