A multitude of angels

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A multitude of angels
Keith Jarrett's live album

Publication
(s)

2016

Label (s) ECM records

Format (s)

4 CDs

Genre (s)

jazz

running time

4:57:15 (1:10:37, 1:17:12, 1:13:58, 1:15:19)

occupation

production

Keith Jarrett

chronology
Barber / Bartók / Jarrett
(2016) 		A multitude of angels After the Fall
(2018)

A Multitude of Angels is a jazz album by Keith Jarrett ; The four-CD collection of live recordings by the pianist was recorded in 1996 and was released in 2016 by ECM Records . These were his last concerts before he was kept away from the concert scene for two years due to chronic fatigue syndrome.

background

A Multitude of Angels contains the recordings of Jarrett's concerts on October 23, 1996 at the Teatro Comunale in Modena (Disc 1), on October 25, 1996 at the Teatro Comunale Ferrara (Disc 2), and on October 28, 1996 at the Teatro Regio in Turin (Disc 3) and on October 30, 1996 at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

“Each CD contains every note of a concerto”, wrote David Hadfield, “two movements each, together with encores, from Modena, Ferrara, Turin and Genova. Each movement contained about thirty minutes of fully improvised music, labeled Part I and Part II on each CD. The encores were either improvised ( encore ) or standards - 'Danny Boy' in Modena and ' Over the Rainbow ' in Genoa ”.

In Allmusic Thom Jurek pointed out the special conditions in which the recordings were made; “Jarrett is a musician, producer and engineer here. The performances were recorded on his Sonosax DAT recorder apparently without a view to a later publication. They were sent directly from the piano to transformerless microphones on the machine without a mixer in between. It's not as raw as The Melody at Night, with You with its intimate recordings at home, but the sound of these recordings is less airy and untouched. "

Track list

The Modena Theater, where Keith Jarrett performed on 23 October 1996
  • Keith Jarrett: A Multitude of Angels (ECM 2445)
Disc 1
  1. Part I (Jarrett) 34:18
  2. Part II (Jarrett) 31:19
  3. Danny Boy ( Frederic Weatherly ) 5:00
Disc 2
  1. Part I (Jarrett) 43:48
  2. Part II (Jarrett) 29:58
  3. Encore (Jarrett) 3:26
Disc 3
  1. Part I (Jarrett) 42:23
  2. Part II (Jarrett) 31:35
Disc 4
  1. Part I (Jarrett) 31:41
  2. Part II (Jarrett) 31:43
  3. Encore (Jarrett) 5:52
  4. Over the Rainbow ( EY Harburg & Harold Arlen ) 6:03

reception

The Teatro Comunale Ferrara, where Jarrett performed on October 26, 1996

John Fordham reviewed the album in the UK Guardian . He awarded the album four (out of five) stars and wrote: "Jarrett has always preferred extensive documentation, but the intensity, variety and astonishing technical mastery of these performances could convince enthusiastic fans and enthusiastic improvisation enthusiasts alike that these were milestones" .

David Hadfield wrote, “A new solo piano set with four discs by Keith Jarrett is an exciting prospect.” It was “music of great intensity: in every set there is emotion, passion, anger and humor. Some sequences are strongly rhythmic, others delicate. ”The author mentions allusions to other musicians, references to Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus, and sections that are reminiscent of Sketches of Spain . Jarrett's improvisations also had a dose of blues and spirituals . If you're a fan of Jarrett's music, “this collection is probably indispensable: it's a remarkable set of improvisations. If you are unfamiliar with Jarrett's solo work, this may not be the place to start - he has a large number of recordings available (the Köln Concert is a lot of people's entry point). However, if you like solo piano improvisation, A Multitude Of Angels contains beautiful, emotional and intense music. "

The Teatro Regio di Toríno. Jarrett played there on October 28, 1996.

Cormac Larkin praised the Irish Times : “Every new recording of Keith Jarrett's absolutely unique solo performance deserves special attention, but the fact that the revered pianist suffered from an illness from which he resolved for several years with his four Italian concerts in October 1996 had to withdraw from public appearances, gives A Multitude of Angels special meaning. Jarrett would never again play his much-admired spontaneous compositions in an uninterrupted flow, so that these four originally self-recorded performances of Modena, Ferrara, Turin and Genvoa represent a kind of apex, the conclusion of an arc that had begun in the early 1970s. ”In On a rare personal note, Jarrett himself describes these four concerts as the "highpoint" of his career; that is difficult to contradict.

Thom Jurek wrote in Allmusic: “The sound is only one aspect that characterizes these recordings. [...] Though he has been weakened by the burden of his undiagnosed disease, he tries it here. The great interpolations of folk, funky gospel and jazz during the first ten minutes of the Modena concert (disc 1) are among the most enjoyable in its catalog. Jarrett describes these shows as if he were fated to be like he 'played the last time' in the moment. ”His improvisations were sometimes hackier and rougher than elsewhere in his catalog -“ although his playing was technical and creative amazing “stay. In this context, Jurek alludes to the difficult classical improvisations in the second part of Modena, where he encounters ragtime and modal jazz . Process-like improvisation over ballads represent the first half of the Turin appearance on the third disc. The last gig in Genoa (CD four) ends with a fantastically funky blues encore before the pianist Harold Arlen interprets 'Over the Rainbow'. "Jarrett has never delivered it with such tenderness", the author sums up, "[...] since he illuminates the hidden magic in its smooth harmony. For fans of the pianist, A Multitude of Angels is an indispensable document. It is not only wildly creative, but deeply soulful, spiritual and dazzling in diversity and furnishings. "

In the National Public Radio's Jazz Critics Poll , the album took eighth place in the Rara Avis category at the end of 2016; The winner was the album In Paris: The ORTF Recordings by Larry Young .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Review of Thom Jurek's album A Multitude of Angels at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  2. ^ A b David Hadfield: A Multitude of Angels review. London Jazz News, December 20, 2016, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Album information at ECM
  4. ↑ John Fordham: Keith Jarrett: A Multitude of Angels review - a career pinnacle. The Guardian, November 10, 2016, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  5. ^ Cormac Larkin, Keith Jarrett - A Multitude of Angels album review: a master at the pinnacle of his powers. Irish Times, November 8, 2016, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  6. ^ Francis Davis: The 2016 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. NPR, December 21, 2016, accessed March 31, 2019 .