Keith Jarrett: In Front
Recorded: Oslo, Norway, November 10, 1971
Rating: 100/100 (learn more)
Here on the opening track of his first solo piano recording, Keith Jarrett announces a new era of jazz keyboard music. Even today, decades later, we can hear the repercussions – from Brad Mehldau to Esbjorn Svensson and beyond – in contemporary piano stylings. Jarrett helped shape a new vocabulary for improvised music, demonstrated the marvels of his conception and touch, and explored novel paths of thematic development – all in the course of a 10-minute performance. My favorite moments: the funky ostinato groove that kicks in right before the four minute mark, and then the shimmering resolution that dawns two minutes later. Jarrett still had his first solo concert records – the edifices of Bremen, Lausanne and Koln -- ahead of him, but here at age 26 he had arrived, no longer the young prodigy of jazz, but a mature artist charting the future.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
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Tags: 1970s jazz · ecm · solo piano
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