Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne
Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne is a recording released through ECM by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett performing solo improvisations recorded in Bremen (Germany, July) and Lausanne (Switzerland, March) in 1973; in between, Jarrett played in the US with his American quartet.[5] Originally released as a 3-LP album, it was the first of Jarrett's live solo performances to be released on ECM, following his studio-based debut solo recording Facing You (1971), and preceding his record-breaking Köln Concert (1975).[6]
Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 1973, November [1] | |||
Recorded | 1973, March 20 1973, July 12 | |||
Venue | Salle de Spectacles d'Epalinges (Lausanne, Switzerland) Kleiner Sendesaal (Bremen, Germany) | |||
Length | 2:08:13 | |||
Label | ECM Records [ECM 1035-1037] | |||
Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
Keith Jarrett chronology | ||||
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Keith Jarrett solo piano chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Critical reception
The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars, stating, "Despite the length, the music never loses one's interest, making this an essential recording for all jazz collections".[2] Ted Gioia calls it Jarrett's "masterpiece", "two titanic improvised performances".[7]
According to Mikal Gilmore in Night Beat, "with Bremen-Lausanne and the subsequent Köln Concert, Jarrett found his niche, freely mixing gospel, impressionist, and atonal flights into a consonant whole".[8] Bill Dobbins notes that the (short) encore on the third side, a boogie-woogie inflected ostinato, owes much to Duke Ellington's New World A-Comin'.[9]
Writing for the now defunct jazz magazine Jazz.com, in December 2007 Ted Gioia rated 100/100 the track Bremen, Germany, July 12, 1973, Part I stating that:[10]
"Jazz musicians have always emphasized improvisation in their work. But few have taken this reliance on spontaneous creation to the lengths Keith Jarrett has assayed in his solo concerts. He pioneered the (still rare) concept of an entirely improvised piano recital, wholly inspired by the muse of the moment. But if the concept is exciting, Jarrett's execution of this ambitious idea is even more impressive. The ECM recording of Jarrett's 1973 Bremen concert represented the first attempt to capture this type of work on tape and present it on record. This disk may not have sold as well as The Köln Concert from 1975 or matched the scope of Jarrett's massive Sun Bear Concerts (originally released on ten LPs) from 1976, but for sheer musicality and inventiveness it is hard to top the recital in Bremen. Here is piano music that is rich in complexity, subtle in detail, and completely free of cliché. One of my desert island disks."
Track listing
- Vinyl pressing
All tracks are written by Keith Jarrett.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Bremen, July 12, 1973 Part I" | 18:11 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Bremen, July 12, 1973 Part IIa" | 19:40 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Bremen, July 12, 1973 Part IIb" | 26:15 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Lausanne, March 20, 1973 Part Ia" | 22:50 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Lausanne, March 20, 1973 Part Ib" | 7:20 |
2. | "Lausanne, March 20, 1973 Part IIa" | 12:34 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Lausanne, March 20, 1973 Part IIb" | 22:35 |
- CD pressing
All tracks are written by Keith Jarrett.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Bremen, July 12, 1973 Part I" | 18:11 |
2. | "Bremen, July 12, 1973 Part II" | 45:09 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Lausanne, March 20, 1973" | 64:53 |
- Recorded in concert in Bremen on July 12, and in Lausanne on March 20, 1973.
Personnel
- Keith Jarrett – piano
Technical Personnel
- Pierre Grandjean, Alan Kobel - recording engineers (Lausanne)
- Rolf Rockstroh - recording engineer (Bremen)
- Kurt Rapp, Martin Wieland - remix engineers
- Roberto Masotti, A. Raggenbass, Jochen Mönch - photography
- Barbara and Burkhart Wojirsch - cover design and layout
- Manfred Eicher and Keith Jarrett - production
References
- ECM Records Keith Jarrett: Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne accessed May 2020
- Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed September 9, 2011
- Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 112. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- Elsdon, Peter (2013). Keith Jarrett's The Koln Concert. Oxford: Oxford UP. p. 22. ISBN 9780199779253.
- ECM catalogue accessed December 1, 2008.
- Gioia, Ted (2011). The History of Jazz (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 340. ISBN 9780199830589.
- Gilmore, Mikal (2000). Night Beat: A Shadow History of Rock & Roll. Knopf Doubleday. p. 213. ISBN 9780385500296.
- Dobbins, Bill (2017). "'Nobody Was Looking': The Unparalleled Jazz Piano Legacy of Duke Ellington". In Howland, John (ed.). Duke Ellington Studies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 108–56. ISBN 9780521764049.
- Gioia, Ted (December 2007) The Dozens: Essential Keith Jarrett by Ted Gioia at Jazz.com accessed September 2020