by Don Berryman
ECM is releasing Roma, the highly anticipated fifth and final concert recording from Keith Jarrett’s acclaimed final European solo tour of 2016, recorded live at the Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome on July 12th. This follows ECM’s releases of Munich 2016 in 2019, Budapest Concert in 2020, and Bordeaux Concert in 2022, and New VIena in 2025. The album contains 10 tracks of spontaneous and spellbinding music. Like most of his solo concert recordings, beginning with Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne in 1973; sometimes referred to as long-form improvisations, they are labeled as numbered parts (Part I, Part II, etc.) and considered one suite. Roma also features two encores. The album will be released on November 6th on 2 LPs, CD, and digital formats.
In addition to his solo work, Keith Jarrett recorded in many groups, including work with Charles Lloyd, The Jazz Messengers, and with Miles Davis in the early 1970’s. He recorded for a decade with his groundbreaking quartet Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian. And his “Standards” trio with Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette dug deeply into the jazz canon. In those contexts he performs either his own compositions or standards. But it is really Jarrett’s improvised solo piano works that have captivated audiences since the 70’s – his The Köln Concert from 1975 remains the best selling solo piano recording in history in any genre.
In the 1990s Keith Jarrett suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and cancelled a concert tour, but later found a way to tour again. Because of that recovery and subsequent tours we have this great recording and others from the 2016 tour when he was performing at his peak This 2016 European tour was Jarrett’s final one. He suffered two strokes in 2018 and announced that he would never tour again.
In July of 2016 Jarrett performed five concerts in five European cities over 14 days and each one is unique. Which is not surprising since Keith Jarrett starts each of his solo concerts not knowing what he is going to play; he is exploring and discovering the music as he plays. As he said in a 2013 NEA interview, “What I’m seeking is this music that’s in the air that is ready to be played at all times, that’s why I show up at a concert. That’s why I do solo concerts. When I’m out there and there’s just a piano, if I can be available to that music that was not played or if I can manage to mold something that I never expected to happen to me. And that’s why being in the room as an audience member for a solo concert, you are actually watching the process”. And each concert is influenced by the venue and the audience, as Jarrett stated later in that same interview. “I actually need the audience to help me find a new focus. Truly, I am blank walking out. I’m a receptor. And what I’m receiving is things like how concentrated are they? I mean, I’m looking for new music each time. So in a very correct way, these are like commissioned works for every particular audience I ever played.”
The music is intriguing and demands one’s full attention:
“Part I” is a darkly complex piece that is intricate and at times like a Bach fugue. It sounds more organic midway though and I get the impression of cascading waterfalls and babbling brooks. The tension builds again then finally resolves in a softly sustained major chord.
“Part II” is an uptempo march-like romp over a dense left hand vamp.
“Part III” starts with a gentle, plaintive sound that becomes more urgent as it progresses.
“Part IV” is like a ballad that leads to some of the most delightful flights of improvisation with the right hand and of sporadic dark punctuating chords with the left. I think it is my favorite track on the album.
“Part V” is a soulful gospel influenced piece that is very satisfying both rhythmically and harmonically.
“Part VI”, “Part VII” and “Part VIII” are gentle and melodic with the latter playfully evoking a mood like a cross between the opening of Stravinski’s “Rite of Spring” and Grieg’s “Morning Mood” from Peer Gynt.
“Part IX” is a rollicking blues and is the only improvisation (other than the encores) on the album that adheres to an established form.
“Part X” begins slowly with gentle, rainfall-like melodies with hints of distant thunder building up to the concluding storm.
These are followed, after an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd, by two encores, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “It’s A Lonesome Old Town”
Concerts dates and venues for the 2016 European tour:
- July 3, 2016 (8 PM) Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Palace of Arts, Budapest, Hungary – released on ECM as Budapest Concert in 2020
- July 6, 2016 (8 PM) L’Auditorium de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France released on ECM as Bordeaux Concert in 2022
- July 9, 2016 (7:45 PM) Goldener Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria – released on ECM as New Vienna in 2015
- July 12, 2016 (7 PM) Parco Della Musica, Rome, Italy – released on ECM as ROMA in 2026
- July 16, 2016 (7 PM) Philharmonie, Gasteig, Munich, Germany – released on ECM as Munich 2016 in 2019
Link to original article https://www.jazzpolice.com/archives/20790
