Keith Jarrett: Sleeper — Tokyo, April 16, 1979

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Jan Garbarek (ss)
Jon Christensen (d, perc)
Keith Jarrett (p)
Palle Danielsson (b)

Label:

ECM

August/2012

Catalogue Number:

2290/91

RecordDate:

16 April 1979

There's something very moving about this double album. It's not just that it has emerged after 33 years albeit with a new mix, it's the sheer spirit in which the music was played all those years ago in Japan. Worth much more than the price of the album alone, just over fi ve minutes into ‘Innocence’ there's a spine chilling moment when the theme emerges with Garbarek at his most lucid. It's to be heard to be believed. Staring at the old green ECM label of a vinyl version of its companion album Personal Mountains, itself needing a decade to see the light of day, and listening to the much shorter version of ‘Innocence’, the Belonging band, or European Quartet as this band is usually known, has long since claimed its place in history. And rightly so, but this release adds even more to the legend. The band may never reunite, so this is not just a memento of a group that didn't record much, but it's also deep, sometimes disturbingly intense, and always involving long form improvising built around compelling themes. In the loneliness of a big city concert hall this release is a marvel and a reminder of all that's visionary about Jarrett.

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