La Fenice (album)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La Fenice
Keith Jarrett's live album

Publication
(s)

2018

Label (s) ECM records

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

12

running time

1:37:37

occupation

production

Keith Jarrett, Giuseppe Mormile

Studio (s)

Gran Teatro La Fenice , Venice

chronology
After the Fall
(2018) 		La Fenice Munich 2016
(2019)

La Fenice is a jazz album by Keith Jarrett that was recorded on July 19, 2006 at a concert by the pianist at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice and was released on ECM Records in October 2018 . According to the British Jazz Journal , the recording continues the style for which it is known, namely an incredibly expressive and energetic performance, [...] exploring all possible approaches, “from clear structures and tonalities to the most complex and dissonant improvisations ".

background

After overcoming his illness, which lasted more than two years from 1996-1998, from chronic fatigue syndrome , the pianist Keith Jarrett continued to work with his standards trio; During this period he also appeared as a soloist. During the solo concerts, recordings were made that were later released as albums Radiance (recorded in 2002 in Osaka and Toyo, released in 2005), The Carnegie Hall Concert (one year after the recording in 2005 in New York City) and finally La Fenice (12 years after the Recording) were published.

Music of the album

Dave Gelly wrote about the music on the album: “The opening part of this spontaneous eight-part work is rather clumsy, dense and dissonant, but then there are playful, catchy melodies, moments of deep reflection, romance on a grand scale, five minutes in which melody shreds chasing around each other with incredible agility, a kind of boogie-woogie and a melody borrowed from Der Mikado . ”The sequence of eight original compositions by Jarrett is supplemented with three standard interpretations“ My Wild Irish Rose ”,“ Stella by Starlight ”,“ The Sun Whose ” Rays ”and a solo version of his own composition“ Blossom ”, which he first presented in 1974 on the album Belonging in a quartet version .

"The twelve pieces of the concert [...] can be roughly divided into three types: a) groovy, b) fervent, c) erratic", wrote Klaus Nüchtern in the Wiener Falter . “While c) alternates between erratic volatility and solemn pathos, b) alternates between one's own and ostentatiously artless, but heart-rending performances of a traditional or Gilbert-and-Sullivan song, whereas a) in the form of an increasingly animated boogie or one that has been heard a thousand times' Stella by Starlight ', which is taken apart and put back together again with rousing verve. "

Track list

Teatro la Fenice (exterior view)
  • Keith Jarrett: La Fenice (ECM 2601)
CD 1
  1. Part I (Keith Jarrett) 17:44
  2. Part II (Keith Jarrett) 3:26
  3. Part IIIn (Keith Jarrett) 9:53
  4. Part IV (Keith Jarrett) 7:22
  5. Part V (Keith Jarrett) 6:41
CD 2
  1. Part VI (Keith Jarrett) 13:32
  2. The Sun whose Rays (Arthur Gilbert, AS Sullivan) 4:26
  3. Part VII (Keith Jarrett) 5:30
  4. Part VIII (Keith Jarrett) 9:15
  5. My Wild Irish Rose (Traditional) 8:36
  6. Stella by Starlight ( Victor Young , Ned Washington ) 7:52
  7. Blossom (Keith Jarrett) 9:11

reception

For Howard Mandel , who gave the album four (out of five) stars on Down Beat , it is impressive how the pianist manages to present a series of loosely related explorations "with a remarkable concentration of more than 70 minutes", apparently without to use prefabricated material. All of Jarrett's hallmarks are recognizable: “Free flowing, virtuoso finger work, continuity and development of original ideas, sensitive touch and attention to dynamics, demonstration of a comprehensive harmonic knowledge and rhythmic security. The recording of classical compositions by the pianist, especially those by Bach, the late Romanticists and the early modernists, dominates this performance. There is no blues connotation until 'Part III' . ”Although Jarrett's improvisation“ begins with a crisp keyboard-related exploration, with Part IV he created a reflective, autumnal mood that, despite a relatively optimistic Part V 'and the walking blues of' Part VIII 'is continued through his encores. The finale, his own [composition] 'Blossom', is melancholy, not as extensive as Jarrett's suite, but shows the artist's tender, wistful heart. "

Author Huflaikhan (Martin Hufner) said in the jazz newspaper : “As in other solo recordings after 2000, the improvisation tracks appear more condensed with Jarrett than with the long improvisations from the time before (starting with the“ Cologne Concert ”, the concerts in Lausanne and Bremen (...] and temporarily ending with “ A Multitude of Angels ” - or in other words: they are simply shorter. Jarrett changes the musical hemispheres between the “parts” like a kind of solo suite. There aren't that many pianists * Those who have such an extensive repertoire of expressive possibilities and who can implement it technically and practically: In the 2006 recording from Venice, that is enough of wildly scurrying one and two voices and chordal clusters of surfaces (Part II) in a small space in under four minutes residue ostinato grooves (Part III) or song-like ballad-episodes (Part IV) to blues-folky (about folky can argue) music (off) set (Part VIII). "

The Guardian gave the album five stars; whose critic Dave Gelly wrote: “Improvisation seems to be an inadequate word to describe what Keith Jarrett does for an hour and a half at the piano alone. He begins to sit motionless for a few moments, apparently to clear his mind of thoughts, and then begins to play. What comes out of it can be exciting, moving, confusing, violent, tender - all this and more. Improvisation seems to be an inadequate word to describe what Keith Jarrett is doing for an hour and a half at the piano alone. He begins to sit motionless for a few moments, apparently to clear his mind of thoughts, and then begins to play. What comes out of it can be exciting, moving, confusing, violent, tender - all this and more. 'The audience', as his early biographer Ian Carr noted, 'experiences' the act of creation'. This time it was 2006 at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice. ”Gelly sums up that“ from a technical point of view alone [...] Jarrett has to be one of the best living pianists, but the breadth of his musical understanding and his ability to express emotions capture make it unique. "

Teatro La Fenice: the auditorium

Reiner H. Nitschke wrote in the Fono Forum that Jarrett had "finally said goodbye to his excessive solo trips" with the concert in Carnegie Hall, which he recorded after his solo comeback in 2005; a year later "Jarrett kindled a disharmonious fire in the first two pieces in order to warm up, and in the third part - as is often celebrated - to return to the blues and boogie roots." Overall, the first part of the concert required the very attentive The audience takes a lot, notes the car; for this it is “rewarded by an audibly relaxed protagonist in the second part.” Jarrett obviously feels “comfortable in the excellent sounding opera hall and loved by the audience, after part 6 even completely surprisingly weaves a melodic piece from the operetta“ Der Mikado ”by Gilbert and Sullivan , with the first encore "My Wild Irish Rose" reminds us of his wonderful album " The Melody at Night, With You ". Pure romance in the heart of Venice. "

Reinhard Köchl praised under the heading "Forget the Köln Concert" at the time , the album belongs "to the balanciertesten, ripest, komplettesten, thus lasting recordings of his extensive discography, created at the height of his career." It is no comparison to Cologne Concert, [...] “because it lulls rather than challenges the audience with its dreamlike floods of sound. If you want to understand Keith Jarrett, the man who just plays instead of composing, who composes instead of thinking, you should first listen to the 2006 Venice Concert, which is now out, ”says the author.

“You can experience the complete Jarrett here. The fickle, the researcher, the aggressive, the atonal arsonist, the indulgent ballad dreamer, the grinning tap dancer, the frenzied bebop speedster, the stubborn chord punch, the juggler of the banal. It seems like he was absolutely at peace with himself in those days. In doing so, he succeeded in something he had been looking for in vain for decades: finally channeling the raging flow of his inspiration and fulfilling his own demands. La Fenice essentially consists of an eight-part suite that references everything from blues to atonality . Between the sixth and seventh tracks, Jarrett surprisingly jumps to 'The Sun Whose Rays (Are All Ablaze)' from Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical operetta The Mikado . And as always, he hugs the previously domesticated, badly battered audience during the encores by giving them the traditional 'My Wild Irish Rose', the standard ' Stella by Starlight ' as well as a version of the wonderful 'Belonging', which he already included in 1974 Jan Garbarek , Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen . "

Lennie Tristano, ca.1947.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Thom Jurek said in Allmusic : “The music that can be found here is varied and adventurous, starting with the almost 18-minute knotty opening section, which is one of the better showcases of the inventive pianist. Elements of classical technology and invention meet dissonant mechanics in a dazzling technical presentation, until after a minute and a half Jarrett is able to economically disintegrate into almost meditative chord voices. 'Part III' merges blues and boogie with the inherent lyricism of Vince Guaraldi in a piece that comes close to pure joy. The chromatic keyboard acrobatics in 'Part V' touches everyone from Bud Powell and Art Tatum to Lennie Tristano and Bill Evans as it winds through post-bop blues. Abstraction returns with the sparse but expressive investigations in Part VI and appears to be a whispered dialogue between him and the keyboard. Jarrett emerges from this 13 minute section and offers a gentle read of 'The Sun Whose Rays' by Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado . While 'Part VII' is a great exploration of jazz harmony performed with warmth and a tight response, the final section playfully returns to the blues steps and boogie woogie . ( Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson probably smiled from heaven as he played.) The concert could have ended here, but Jarrett generously offers the audience three surprising encores: First, a new reading of 'My Wild Irish Rose' that he had previously in 1998 recorded in the improvised home studio on The Melody at Night, With You . This version is far more romantic: he strokes the lyric lines from the middle register and turns them back on themselves. His "Stella by Starlight" is suddenly exploring and de rigueur - [...] Jarrett spares himself the last surprise during the painfully tender performance of his own Blossom , an elegant, melancholy ballad from 1974. [...] La Fenice may be another solo concert by Jarrett, but when he chases after him with that kind of energy, humor, passion and emotion, an hour and a half goes by in a moment. "

Rob Adams said in the Scottish The Herald, “Gilbert & Sullivan may not be an obvious source of inspiration for Keith Jarrett's particular form of piano exploration, but 'The Sun Whose Rays' from The Mikado naturally fits into this solo concert [..]. By the time Jarrett took up residence at the Grand Teatro La Fenice to give La Fenice its full English translation ["Phoenix"], he had been making solo and largely improvised recordings with ECM for thirty-five years. Nevertheless, it can always be surprising how complete and song-like his spontaneous compositions can be. ”Among the eight“ 'at the moment ”creations”, there is also one “which form a complete accompaniment track for a Randy Newman song , and another that could be the lead arrangement for a groove created by Jarrett by his Scandinavian quartet from the 1970s. "

In All About Jazz , Karl Ackermann expressed reservations about the album: “As the greatest pianist of our time, the bar for Jarrett's work is inappropriately high. He is unique and cannot be compared rationally with his contemporaries. Therefore, with each addition to the catalog, its output is judged relative to its own history. La Fenice lags behind later ECM albums ... The spontaneous improvisations are interesting but a bit sterile, the ballads are beautifully played as always, but predictable. At the end of the day, La Fenice is neither essentially Jarrett nor an undignified addition to his life's work. It just lacks the impact of a large part of his solo work. ”On the same website, Mike Jurkovic wrote:“ Emotionally fascinating, as all of his recordings are ultimately, La Fenice mainly consists of the eight-part suite that dominates the recording. ... But for all its graceful moments of creative joy and wonder, La Fenice is neither La Scala nor one of the greater works that define Jarrett's only and unique place in the art of the solo piano [...]. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elliot Marlow-Steven: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. Jazz Journal, March 8, 2019, accessed March 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed March 10, 2019)
  3. ↑ a b Dave Gelly: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. The Guardian, November 4, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Keith presses the keys, Barre happy with the bass. Falter, October 1, 2018, accessed March 10, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Album information at ECM
  6. ↑ Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. Down Beat, January 1, 2009, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Huflaikhan: Rerzension: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. Jazzzeitung, October 20, 2018, accessed on March 10, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Reiner H. Nitschke: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. JazzTimes, October 1, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b Reinhard Köchl: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. Die Zeit, October 1, 2018, accessed on March 10, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Review of Thom Jurel's album La Fenice at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  11. ^ Rob Adams: Album review: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. The Herald, October 28, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  12. ^ Karl Ackermann: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. All About Jazz, October 10, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Mike Jurkovic: Keith Jarrett: La Fenice. All About Jazz, November 6, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019 .