Keith Jarrett - At The Carnegie Hall CD 2 (2006) [Jazz][mp3 320]

Keith Jarrett - At The Carnegie Hall CD 2
Original Release Date: September 26, 2006
Audio CD: September 26, 2006
Format: Live
Label: Ecm Records
Total Time: 52 minutes
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Product Description:
Since being afflicted in the late '90s with chronic fatigue syndrome, which kept him on the sidelines for several years, Keith Jarrett has had to reinvent himself as a performer. It's no slight on his classic live recitals of the past to suggest that has proven to be a fruitful development. In moving away from his long, inwardly streaming, lyrically sustained works and adopting a more easygoing episodic approach, he has become more accessible (and less windy) without sacrificing intensity or the freedom to draw upon all manner of styles including blues, gospel, and Americana. Recorded in 2005, The Carnegie Hall Concert features a 10-part piece that runs a gamut of moods and emotions. The enjoyable encore portion consists of three new originals, including a standard, "Time on My Hands," and a rare, enthusiastically received Jarrett oldie, "My Song," from the '70s. This is the 61-year-old artist's 25th solo album for ECM--most in a jazz genre but some classical, most on piano but some on organ and harpsichord and even wind instruments. It leaves you looking forward to number 26. ~ Lloyd Sachs.

Keith Jarrett is nothing less than a living legend. Audiences flock to his rare performances in the world’s finest concert halls, and it is his unique ability to create music in the moment that has made him most famous – his spontaneous improvisations often sound as if they’ve been carefully composed over time. His 1975 album, The Köln Concert, catapulted him onto the world stage, and – at 4 million copies and counting – is the best-selling solo piano recording of all time. In 2005, Keith Jarrett played his first US solo concert in a decade on the stage of Carnegie Hall, America’s most celebrated venue. One year later to the day, this electrifying night of music will be released. ~ Amazon review

Like many of the first reviewers here, I was at the Carnegie Hall concert, and I agree that it was a special evening. It's a welcome opportunity to hear this performance on CD a year later, after memory has dropped the details of the experience into forgotten corners. Jarrett that night was playing the role of Beloved Master, entertaining and enthralling those who made the pilgrimage. After all the solo concerts played in Tokyo, Paris and Koln, he came home and played American standards in an American venue. The urgency of the applause and the anticipation of the silences show an appreciation that go beyond mere listening. " Carnegie Hall " was a moment when magic took flight -- when everyone acknowledged the return of the master, now secure in his reputation and handing out sonic miracles.

This CD took about three close listenings over two days to get the whole thing digested. It is by turns elaborate, generous, challenging, melodic and angular. It's like visiting a strange new/old city and finding the familiar and the exciting around every corner. The more abstract pieces lay aside conventional rules and compel the listener to examine the discrete fragments and then fit the pieces together ( as challenging to hear as it was for Jarrett to play, I think ). The sweeter pieces are sentimental with the brakes applied: melancholic, hopeful and inspired. And what would any Jarrett concert be without his gospel-inflected boogie, accompanied with insistent foot stomps?

The sound quality of this CD surpasses other Jarrett recordings ( except perhaps "Radiance," made not too long before "Carnegie Hall." ). It's difficult to award a full five stars merely because it was a greatly anticipated concert. I still prefer things like "Koln Concert" and "Bremen/Lausanne" because those were Jarrett at his pioneering best, with everything still ahead of him. Because the shorter, more abstract work inaugurated on "Radiance" and cemented at Carnegie Hall is still so fresh in the mind, there needs to be some time to reflect. In a way, this concert didn't reveal any new sounds to me so much as reinvent thirty years' worth of accumulated virtuosity. It was the sound of the American heartland drawn on a new canvas. It was Jarrett's talent ripened and his dreams realized. ~ a writer, Amazon review

Players:
Keit Jarrett: piano

Keith Jarrett - At The Carnegie Hall CD 1 Tracks:
01 Part 1
02 Part 2
03 Part 3
04 Part 4
05 Part 5

Keith Jarrett - At The Carnegie Hall CD 2 Tracks:
01 Part 6
02 Part 7
03 Part 8
04 Part 9
05 Part 10
06 The Good America
07 Paint My Heart Red
08 My Song
09 True Blues
10 Time On My Hands