By C. Michael Bailey

Digital Video Discs (DVDs) represent the present and superior evolutionary step in audiovisual entertainment. They are superior to VHS in that digital (compact disc) audio now accompanies digital visual images. It is this technology for which the filmed jazz concert performance has been waiting. Jazz Concert Performance—now there is a mouthful. Historically (and perhaps, romantically), jazz performance has been associated with smoky clubs and late-night jam sessions. While jazz for the concert stage (like classic music) did not begin as the norm, it has quickly become so. This brings us to Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio with Gary Peacock and jack DeJohnette The Standards Trio is perhaps the preeminent jazz piano trio performing. Their music cannot be classified as anything within light years of "Cocktail" jazz. The Standards Trio’s performance is art of the highest order, being on the same plane as a Vladimir Horowitz or Cecilia Bartoli recital.

So great is the live performance of the Standards Trio that their recording Still Live was voted one of the best live jazz recordings. In that article, this critic opined:

One might listen to the Red Garland Trio at the Blackhawk and drink beer One might listen to the Oscar Peterson Trio at the Village Vanguard and drink Scotch. One might listen to the Ray Brown or Ahmad Jamal Trios at Zanzibar Blue and drink 20 year-old Port. But if one listens to Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, it is likely it will be at Wolftrap or Carnegie Hall and you will be drinking champagne. Each song presented is treated as an aural gem brilliantly accented by Jarrett's Baroque musings. He turns Tin Pan Alley into the Yellowbrick Road with his highly technical and highly personal approach to performing. A better ballads player that a blues player, Jarrett nevertheless stands and delivers on Charlie Parker's "Billie's Bounce." "My Funny Valentine" is treated as a Bach fugue, with its elaborate introduction (a thread that passes through all of the pieces on this disc). This is jazz as sublimity.

Sublimity, indeed. The two present offerings are no exception to the above. These are two Japanese concerts form the mid-1980s when the band was in full flower and well before Jarrett’s bout with chronic fatigue syndrome. The repertoire is of a standard fare (pun intended). Japanese director Kaname Kawachi, who favored tight stage shots for these two films, directed the filming of both concerts. The group was bathed in warm, but not overbearing light with the cinematography sensitive to the music.

It is interesting after having listened of a group for some time to finally see them performing. Keith Jarrett, long known for his troublesome vocalizations during recorded performances, performs like the recombinantly produced spirits of Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, and Joe Cocker. He is all over the place while soloing and obviously loves to perform. He begins a piece seated, head hung over the keyboard like Evans, tenderly evoking notes from the piano. Once soloing, Jarrett is possessed and never misses the perfect note and rarely strikes an imperfect one. The observer knows when the song is about to end as Jarrett returns to his introductory stance. With regards to the rest of the group, Jack DeJohnette’s left hand holds the stick like slugger Chuck Knoblach before he grips it and rips it. His intuitive trap work betrays the lengthy and symbiotic association the drummer has had with Jarrett and Peacock. Gary Peacock is urbane in a journeyman sort of way, soloing in a perfectly intelligent fashion.

While all of the compositions performed on these two DVDs have appeared in concert on CD, these particular performances have not previously been available in a digital format, making these two performances worthy additions to the Keith Jarrett discography.

Standards
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette
A Film by Kaname Kawachi
Concert Video, Image Entertainment, 1985, 2001
DVD ID5732ER Color/105 Minutes
Recorded Live at Koseinekin Hall, Tokyo, February 15, 1985
Track Listing: Wish I Knew, If I Should Lose You, Late Lament, Rider, It’s Easy To Remember, So Tender, Prism, Stella By Starlight, God Bless The Child, Delaunay’s Dilemma

Standards II
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette
A Film by Kaname Kawachi
Concert Video, Image Entertainment, 1986, 2001
DVD ID5732ER Color/91 Minutes
Recorded Live at Hitomi Memorial Hall, Tokyo, October 26, 1986
Track Listing: You Don’t Know What Love Is, With A Song In My Heart, When You Wish Upon A Star, All Of You, Blame It On My Youth, Love Letters, Georgia On My Mind, You And The Night And The Music, When I Fall In Love, On Green Dolphin Street, Woody’n You, Young And Foolish