Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Keith Jarrett/C...

58

Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Hamburg '72

By

View read count
Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Hamburg '72
Early on in Keith Jarrett's relationship with ECM (the label had released the solo Facing You in 1971), the pianist was recording for three different labels and dabbling in multiple group formations including this trio. In retrospect it's almost unimaginable that a better triad could have existed in comparison to that of Hamburg '72. Jarrett—adding flute, soprano sax and a bit of percussion to his piano performance—bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian were the quintessential combo, pulling on their collective experiences together and with saxophonists Charles Lloyd, Ornette Coleman and pianist Bill Evans respectively.

Leading up to the Hamburg recording, Life Between the Exit Signs (Vortex, 1968), Somewhere Before (Vortex, 1969) and The Mourning of a Star (Atlantic, 1971) had all garnered critical acclaim for the trio, while coinciding with work where saxophonist Dewey Redman expanded the trio to Jarrett's so-called American quartet. By comparison, the overall content of the earlier trio releases was less engrossing, not quite as consistent as Hamburg '72, an album that raised the post-Evans bar. Powerful improvisations, expressive solos and flawless group dynamics persist throughout the compositions that Jarrett tailored to the strengths of the trio.

Remixed from a live NDR Jazz radio performance, Hamburg '72 manifests a combination of flawless synergy and matchlessly original playing. The opening solo notes of "Rainbow" are reminiscent of Jarrett's later European solo performances. About two minutes in, Haden and Motian audaciously kick in with a counter-strategy; Haden's later solo, plays to the heart of the music, improvising without embellishments. More than any other modern drummer, Motian displays a penchant for deftly constructing pieces of unrelated rhythms, appending them to Haden and Jarrett solos. His presence is at times elusive, always articulate and indispensable to the group dynamic.

Jarrett takes up the flute adding a taste of Eastern mysticism to "Everything That Lives Laments" before returning the piano. Here—as on "Rainbow—high-spirited gospel inflections breathe an irresistible energy into the music. Jarrett's consummate piano aptitude has understandably overshadowed his early work on soprano sax but "Piece For Ornette" is a reminder that he played with some authority. "Take Me Back" and "Life, Dance" share a bristling liveliness often driven by Haden and bridged by Jarrett. Haden's deep, intimate treatment of the fifteen-plus minute "Song For Che," is more lean and feeling than his original Liberation Music Orchestra version (Impulse!, 1969).

In 1972, Haden and Motian were already riding a long plateau of accomplishments. Jarrett was three years away from his benchmark achievement The Köln Concert. In an era when the music scene was very much in flux, Jarrett was stretching his own aesthetic boundaries from the blues-rock-jazz of Lloyd's Forest Flower (Atlantic, 1966) to the fusion of Miles Davis in his Fillmore days. The young Jarrett added the same sense of lyrical improvisation to those early endeavors as that which he perfected in his later career. Hamburg '72 is an impeccable accomplishment, fresh and innovative and filled with elation.

Track Listing

Rainbow; Everything That Lives Laments; Piece for Ornette; Take Me Back; Life Dance; Song for Che.

Personnel

Keith Jarrett: piano, flauto, percussioni, sax soprano; Charlie Haden: contrabbasso; Paul Motian: batteria e percussioni.

Album information

Title: Hamburg '72 | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.