Keith Jarrett has been working in trio mode
with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette for the last twenty
years, and in that time the group has only gotten better.
The group came to be known as the “Standards Trio”
because they performed mostly jazz standards, though the
pieces often became jumping-off points for the group’s
explorations. They have become the most revered jazz trio
since the legendary Bill Evans trio with bassist Scott LaFaro
and drummer Paul Motian, and indeed Jarrett’s trio
often evokes the sense of near-telepathy that made that
group famous. Still, a sense had developed in some quarters
that the group was not expanding its vocabulary and that
the constant exploration of standards at the expense of
new material was somewhat limiting. That sense, along with
the “Standards Trio” moniker, when out the window
last year with the release of the incredible Inside
Out, on which the group returned to free improvisation.
Always Let Me Go/Live In Tokyo is more
trio improvisation, which is what Jarrett promised his listeners
last year. Each of these musicians has a rich history of free
improvisation work: Jarrett with Miles Davis, his “American
Quartet” work featuring Dewey Redman, and his solo piano
work; Peacock with such avant-garde notables as Archie Shepp,
Albert Ayler, and Bill Dixon (coincidentally, he also worked
with Bill Evans from 1962-63) and DeJohnette with Davis, Terje
Rypdal, John Surman, and others. As Jarrett said in his liner
notes to Inside Out: “Those of us who experimented
a lot with so-called "free" playing in the 60s have
years of experience to bring to it again..." That experience,
plus the group’s long history of working together, is
what allows them to jettison material all together and create
something out of nothing: "We need to be even more in
tune with each other to play this way, without material; and
even more attentive. Every possibility is available if you
take away the tunes, but only some are valid under the circumstances.
It is only sensitivity to the flux that determines whether
the music succeeds or fails."
The music here succeeds admirably. Two extremely
long pieces (more than thirty minutes apiece), “Hearts
in Space” and “Waves” allow the group to
create an arc, the music unfolding slowly and creating a recognizable
form at its own pace. On other tracks, like “The River”
Jarrett’s folky sensibility, previously demonstrated
by his work with Jan Garbarek, comes to the fore. Many potential
listeners may be frightened to hear talk of “free improvisation”,
but they need to remember that much of Jarrett’s career
has been based upon his solo piano improvisations and that
in the hands of such able musicians such freedom never descends
into chaos. Thus, while “Tributaries” uses rhythm
as one of its organizing elements and builds throughout its
length, it never disintegrates into a wild session of bashing
and unattractive noise. That’s not to say that everything
here is quiet and peaceful, but there is a great deal of attention
to melodic development, which is scarcely surprising if you’ve
ever listened to Jarrett at all.
Ultimately, listening to freely improvised music
is difficult because it requires more work, even collaboration,
on the part of the listener. Some people will find this off-putting
and there are no doubt many who will be less than enthusiastic
about working their way through a recording like this. For
those who are willing to make the journey, however, the rewards
are substantial and many.
