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After close to twenty years and several dozen ECM recordings with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette,
Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio has released a third album of
free improvisations (rather then their usual fare of standards.)
(The others were
Changes (1983) and
Changeless (1987)). The music on his newest album,
Inside Out, was taken from two nights of concerts in London in July, 2000.
With his energy more limited after his recovery from chronic-fatigue syndrome, Jarrett wanted to devote all his performances to working with his trio. He also became more interested in exploring the bebop repertoire of his youth, which he did marvelously on the trio's previous release, Whisper Not.
For Inside Out, Jarrett decided to emphasize the group's free improvisation, an element of their playing that has been overshadowed by their standards playing. His solo performances were always free improvisations, but even with his "standards trio" his free improvising never really went away—it was hidden in the structure of his standards playing, which often featured long introductions or extended middle passages that were improvised. Both DeJohnette and, especially, Peacock have separate histories of free improvisation, Peacock going back to his work with Albert Ayler and Paul Bley in the early 1960's.
(I sense that there also may be a political element involved in this disc; perhaps Jarrett wanted to make it clear that he doesn't play standards out of a sense of belonging to the jazz repertory movement. Jarrett has a short statement in the CD booklet.)
The album starts with Jarrett repeatedly playing a short melodic figure on the piano, which is soon echoed by the bass and drums. Jarrett gets away from the melody as he improvises, but then comes back to it and springs out again. DeJohnette and Peacock's playing fill in the spaces that Jarrett leaves open in his piano playing. After seven minutes there's a torrent of dense drum sounds as Jarrett drops out and a drum solo begins. Joined by Peacock, the pace soon slows down and the sound quiets as Jarrett reenters. At around the thirteen-minute mark, Jarrett introduces an new melodic variant accompanied by a flurry of notes on the bass and a pattern on the toms and hi-hat. The drums drop out as Jarrett plays a fast, long piano line. At seventeen minutes Jarrett introduces a vamp on the piano accompanied by a slow intermittent melodic figure. With DeJohnette using mallets on the drums and a classical sounding melody, the piece becomes quite moving.
By contrast to the high energy of the long opening tune, the second tune and title track is slower and quieter, with a gospel or hymnlike feeling. A beautiful piece. Next is "341 Free Fade," which starts with an introduction by solo bass, then Jarrett hits a few notes on the piano, DeJohnette starts a rhythm and they're off again. DeJohnette plays a kind of shuffle pattern on the drums, while Peacock's bass plays a short melodic figure. Jarrett plays a repeated vamp with his left hand and a short melody with his right hand that gradually lengthens. The bass and drums maintain a very fast tempo as the piece becomes more abstract. At about the twelve-minute point the piano drops out for a brief drum solo with crackling drumsticks accompanied by some percussive bass. All three musicians engage in some furious simultaneous improvisation with Jarrett playing some percussive piano as DeJohnette strikes his sticks on the sides of his drums and then switches to hand drumming as the piece cools off and comes to an end.
On the shortest selection, "Riot," Jarrett keeps things going with a deep bass vamp, accompanied by cymbally percussion from DeJohneete and percussive bass from Peacock. There's a lot going on-the piece churns along like a freight train.
The album ends with a gentle version of "When I Fall In Love," the only standard on the program, as an encore.
This is a beautiful CD from a group playing at its peak; full of the exhilaration and joy of music-making.
— Alan Lankin, February 2002
Release Date: 2 October 2001
Inside Out (ECM)
1. From the Body (Jarrett) - 23:13 / 2. Inside Out (Jarrett) - 21:13 / 3. 341 Free Fade (Jarrett) - 18:50 / 4. Riot (Jarrett) - 7:23 / 5. When I Fall in Love (Heyman/Young) - 7:25
Personnel:
Keith Jarrett: piano / Gary Peacock: bass / Jack DeJohnette: drums
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last update 12 February 2002