Jazz Today: April 21, 1990 @ New York “THE CURE”

Apr. 21, 1990 “Bemsha Swing”
by Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette at Town Hall, NYC for ECM (THE CURE)

The opening track from a live recording at Town Hall in New York in the 90s, a venue that has produced many famous recordings, by the modern genius pianist Keith Jarrett and his “Standards” trio.

Keith is also a key figure who practiced a return to jazz roots starting in the 80s through performances of standards with his piano trio, establishing this approach throughout the jazz world.

The recording captures the aesthetic transparency characteristic of the Europe-based ECM label. This work, in particular, reproduces a three-dimensional sound field in a large venue, with the resonance of the piano and drums accompanied by their reverberation throughout. This is largely due to the recording work of Jan Erik Kongshaug, a Norwegian engineer who represents ECM.

And the design for this album jacket is by Barbara Wojirsch, a German woman who has also worked on about 200 ECM label works.

This combination has produced excellent works comparable to the classic pairing of Rudy Van Gelder's recordings and Reid Miles' album jackets for Blue Note. Not only Keith Jarrett, but also multiple albums by Pat Metheny, who represents ECM, feature this (see below).

Although this trio has basic rules for playing standard songs and the improvisations that unfold as an extension of them, they rarely decide in advance what songs to play. The style is for the leader, Keith, to either cue the song before playing or for the bass and drums to recognize the song from the solo piano melody he spins at the beginning, and then dive into the trio performance with a “ready, set, go.” Perhaps because of this, Keith's solo performance at the beginning of this work, which sets the cue and the foundation, is long, at about 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Once they enter the trio performance, Keith spins out dramatic melodies while groaning “nii-nii” and moving his body intensely, playing the tricky melody of the brilliant composer Thelonious Monk even more passionately and intensely than usual, backed by the tight, melodic rhythm overflowing endlessly from the drums and bass.

Whether or not you can accept these groans as part of the performance is the turning point for whether you can enjoy Keith's music. Keith usually makes these sounds when he is in high spirits, so for the listener, it can be a letdown when a gravelly voice mixes in at a moment when the music is building up nicely, which would normally be a mood-killer. I myself couldn't accept it physiologically at first.

So, how do you overcome it? The prescription I personally found is to “groan and shout along.” Even if it's impossible to re-experience Keith's sensation of melodies descending from heaven, by groaning “nii-nii” or “ah” and swaying your body along with him, you can enjoy the ups and downs of those emotions. If you can accept the groaning as part of the expression, you can become one with Keith and enjoy the music. I highly recommend trying this during the parts where the groaning continues for about two and a half minutes from 2:25 and for about twenty seconds from 6:30.

That is what jazz is, so take it a step further: as a listener, you can enjoy it surprisingly well if you follow your emotions improvisationally, ignore Keith, and shout “ah” or “goo~” or even just in your heart as the mood takes you along with the music. The Town Hall, which is the venue for this live performance, is a long-established facility near Times Square in Manhattan that opened on January 21, 1921. Several other live recordings have been made here besides this one. You can see from the photo that it is quite a large space.

In terms of audio, in addition to reproducing the atmosphere of the large venue mentioned earlier, I want to focus on how to make DeJohnette's cymbals resonate. Perhaps because it is the opening track, the change from the hard, cold sound of instruments that haven't warmed up yet to one that gradually gains heat as the performance builds, as well as how the high-pitched cymbals that ring out with a “chan” and “kaan” at 2:07 and 2:09 soar above, is one indicator. It might be similar to the feeling of wasabi hitting the back of your nose and soaring up into your head.

Even so, I am amazed at the variety of ways DeJohnette uses his drums and handles rhythm. I see this as the source of Keith's high-performance playing. And at such times, the way to enjoy jazz is to consciously follow the bass line that tends to get buried. Gary Peacock's bass is understated but deep, and it is deeply satisfying no matter how many times you listen to it.

Finally, if you are interested in the combination of the Keith Jarrett Trio, Barbara Wojirsch, and Jan Erik Kongshaug, please check these out as well.