[CD] Keith Jarrett Solo – Vassar College 1975

750625 American Quartet (BR)

June 25 (?), 1975 Amazingrace, Chicago, IL, USA

750600 Kenny Wheeler Quartet

June 1975, New York, NY

1 Heyoke (Kenny Wheeler) 21.49

2 Smatter (Kenny Wheeler) 5.58

3 Gnu Suite (Kenny Wheeler) 12.49

1-3: Kenny Wheeler - Gnu High (ECM (G) 1069)

From Louis Armstrong through Dizzy Gillespie and the hard bop master Woody Shaw, the trumpet has usually attracted extroverts and dazzlers. Kenny Wheeler, the enormously talented trumpeter and composer, began to change that in the 1970s—his playing emphasizes softer textures and less grandstanding approaches. On the astounding Gnu High, he plays the flügelhorn, a close relative of the trumpet that has a slightly more rounded tone, and favors scampering, musing phrases over reveille bursts that scream, "Look at me!" With this record and several that follow it, Wheeler suggests that brass can sing, and sing sweetly.

Dewey Redman (ts, musette, per) Keith Jarrett (p, fl, osi dr, perc) Charlie Haden (b) Paul Motian (dr, perc)

July 3rd 1975, Newport Jazz Festival, Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY, USA

Keith Jarrett played after Oregon and before Thelonious Monk.

1              Shades of Jazz        9:23

2              Rose Petals             8:34

3              Southern Smiles     9:24

Jarrett's quartet opens this July 3rd performance with a ruminative solo piano improvisation that gradually develops into an energized workout on the keys before returning to the evocative theme. By the 5:24 mark, Jarrett segues abruptly to the fully developed solo piano piece "In Front" (from his 1971 ECM album, Facing You). Following a drum barrage from Motian, the band then jumps into "Shades of Jazz," one of Jarrett's most memorable and swinging compositions. Jarrett and Redman double on the head while Haden's insistent walking bass lines propel the tune behind Jarrett's swinging solo. Following a repeat of the head, Redman takes off on an exhilarating, bold-toned tenor solo with Haden's grooves still providing the rhythmic propulsion underneath Motian's incessantly swinging ride cymbal work.

Jarrett next settles into a soulful heartland melody on solo piano as the intro to the evocative "Rose Petals." Motian's free drumming on this rubato piece serves as a perfect rhythmic foil for Jarrett's and Redman's tightly crafted unisons and rhapsodic soloing here. Motian stretches out considerably on an unaccompanied drum solo that kicks off the Ornette Coleman-influenced number "Diatribes," which has Jarrett swinging fervently and soloing with remarkable virtuosity. Redman adds some heat of his own on this uptempo burner that straddles the inside-outside aesthetic with some passionate tenor blowing that tips over into the Albert Ayler zone. This intensely freewheeling piece concludes as it started, with a frantic fusillade on the kit by Motian. The quartet next tackles Jarrett's soulful, grooving, gospel flavored "Southern Smiles," an earthy number which seems more indebted to soul-jazz pioneer Les McCann than avant-garde pioneer Ornette Coleman. Redman's tenor solo here is suitably gritty and full of the funk factor. This Newport Jazz Festival concert closes on a poignant note with a delicate waltz-time number that opens with solo piano and builds to a moving crescendo as the band enters midway through.

-Written by Bill Milkowski