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Keith Jarrett
Whisper Not(ECM)
Since 1983, when pianist
Keith Jarrett
first started recording jazz standards
with bassist
Gary Peacock
and drummer Jack DeJohnette,
his "Standards Trio" has released about 17 discs of music on ten releases. The new double CD,
Whisper Not,
was recorded live in Paris in 1999. It is his first trio recording since Tokyo '96,
which was recorded before his three-year musical absence due to his struggle against Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
The CD opens with a beautiful rendition of Bud Powell's "Bouncing With Bud," where Jarrett plays some long horn-like single note runs. I think this concert has more bop tunes than average with tunes by Benny Golson, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Clifford Brown. There are two by Bud Powell—which is appropriate, considering that in this concert Jarrett is the most Bud-like I've heard him. (The second Bud tune is "Hallucinations.") I also think that Jarrett is approaching the tunes in a more straightforward way—trying to get to the heart of the song. There are no long abstract solo piano introductions, which were often a feature of his other trio recordings.
Gary Peacock is his usually solid, facile self; Jack DeJohnette keeps a crisp pulse on cymbals while commenting on and coloring the proceedings; and Jarrett intensifies the sense of group interplay by often comping during bass and drum solo transitions. Jarrett continues to play with his usual, intense lyricism, beautiful tone and strong emotion. Whisper Not is a beautiful and joyful one hour and fifty three minutes of music.
— Alan Lankin, 19 Oct 2000
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last update 23 October 2000