Keith Jarrett A Multitude of Angels (1996)

From jazzviews.net

Keith Jarrett (piano)
Recorded October 23rd (Modena); October 25th (Ferrara); October 28th (Torino) & October 30th, 1996 

In the wonderful documentary “The Art of Improvisation” (EuroArts, 2005) Keith Jarrett remarks “There’s never been a time where improvisation was given the respect it deserves.  By virtue of the holistic quality of it, it takes everything to do it.  It takes real time, no editing possible, it takes your nervous system to be on alert for every possible thing, in a way that cannot be said for any other kind of music.”  Whether or not an individual agrees about Jarrett’s opinion, and very personal connection to improvisation, few will deny the consistency of his completely solo improvised concerts that began with “Bremen-Lausanne” (ECM, 1973). Jarrett’s solo concerts have been a remarkable melange where the pianist draws on everything from 18th century romanticism, jazz,  rock and pop like constructs, grooving gospel and ritual music inspired ostinatos.  

“A Multitude of Angels” is a simply stunning 4 CD collection of complete concerts in Italy that marked the end of an era where Jarrett performed his final long form improvisational suites lasting anywhere between thirty and forty five minutes for two sets and retired for three years due to Systematic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID—formally known as chronic fatigue syndrome).  The music represents desire to triumph heroically over uncertain circumstances.  Jarrett notes in the detailed booklet story of those evenings just how ill he felt, but the desire for in the moment creation overrode the feelings of what was then the unknown condition.  Also he notes how his studies of Gurdjieff and Sufism really brought things to a different level and he knew a higher spiritual force was aiding him in making some of the most powerful music in his career.

The box set is an interesting look back in time when compared to more recent solo offerings, such as 2010’s “Testament”, 2012’s “Rio”, and last year’s “Creation” made up of choice moments from various concerts, Jarrett was able to improvise seemingly endlessly at length, but it also points the way to the present and future.  The piano titan no longer improvises at length, like these 1996 recordings demonstrate, instead taking shorter thematic segments and expanding on them, but there are so many wonderful moments in this final series of long form solo concerts.  Part one of  “Modena” emerges from the atmosphere into a beautiful ballad, gradually morphing to signature funky, left hand ostinato, while the second half starts with spiky avant garde shapes, something that in the recent Jarrett oeuvre is a very focused point of interest, usually accompanied by intriguing left hand figures.

The opening of the final disc “Genova” mines this territory as well, sharp chordal jabs build to a peak sounding not unlike molecules in a petri dish. One of the truly most transcendent moments in the collection occurs on disc 2, “Ferrara, Part I”, an ostinato is explored, at turns funky and ritualistic, Jarrett’s loud stomping acting almost as a drummer, he tears into a ferocious swinging section, a marvelous display of horn like invention for the bulk of the track. Many of his favorite types of devices occur through the set, Middle Eastern/Spanish flavored phrygian flights, slow wheel turning vamps, and folkish laments but it is his ways of exploring each aspect, adding new facets that make it truly worthwhile. 

Jarrett mentioned in “The Art of Improvisation” that in the lengthy solo concerts, despite the music coming from a fresh place, he liked his world to have certain elements, something he tried to consciously erase in his current approach to improvising. In essence, all components of this former world  are explored to their logical conclusion across the four discs.

A further fascinating point of interest in these recordings: it’s particularly instructive to compare the music in this set with the classic “La Scala” (ECM, 1997) also taped at an Italian concert that same year.  “La Scala” takes on a more romantic 18th century tone, traces of which are found on disc 3, “Torino”, and disc 4 “Genova” the gentle ballad at the conclusion of the first part of “Genova” is contrasted with Cecil Taylor like angularity, and more swinging sections.  A boogie woogie encore and “Over the Rainbow” (also heard in a different version on “La Scala”) round out a terrific set of music.

Another thing that separates the set from others is that Jarrett produced and engineered these recordings He used a portable DAT machine and transformer less mikes, the sound on Jarrett ECM dates is terrific, but this set may be one of Jarrett’s best sounding recordings, the piano has such an incredible tonality, rich, dynamic.  There is a lot of deep, dense music to digest, but it is  a wonderful place to start for those new to Jarrett to hear what makes him one of the most powerful improvisers, and for long time Jarrett fans a potent reminder of border less creativity. In many ways, “A Multitude of Angels” is the ultimate Jarrett solo manifesto.