•
Rating: State of grace. There can be no better definition. An absolute state of grace.
Red cover, and not the usual beautiful dreamy photo that ECM has always accustomed us to. I turn it over and read the list of tracks contained in the double CD, and it seems like I'm looking at a classic trio standards album. Then I read more carefully, and if I had been on a chair, I would have jumped on it: three ragtime. Three ragtime...??? Two from the repertoire of the much-missed Fats Waller and one taken from the classics that Art Tatum regularly performed.
Incredible. I rush home because the desire to listen to what is probably a real treasure is truly overwhelming. Listening to the work with due calm and attention, I realize that the two discs are absolute pearls in every note, in every fugue, in every break and every stop. An absolute masterpiece, without reservation.
Legend would have it that the three ragtime pieces were a surprise even for the faithful companions Peacock and DeJohnette, who, according to some crazy French critics, would be struggling on these three tracks, making them the least interesting on the album. Nothing could be further from the truth: if there is amazement, it is certainly joyful, jubilant amazement. And the ragtime pieces are revisited in a Jarrettian way, with very interesting harmonic decompositions, but simultaneously with a philological rigor, from an enthusiast, as pleasant as it is unexpected.
And never have I remembered hearing the trio so in sync: by now these three geniuses are a single person. If an image had to be placed in the dictionary under the word "harmony," well... I'd undoubtedly put a photo of the Jarrett Trio: the connection is absolute. The companions of the journey grasp every variation (musical and mood) of the leader on the fly, following him as if they were truly one person.
Exceptional is an understatement.
Peacock, even in solo performances, demonstrates absolute taste and technique. He never disappoints and never bores, even after the hundreds of albums we've listened to. And DeJohnette, here, is in unprecedented form, even on fast and very fast tempos, able to combine technique and taste like no one else; many drummers with excellent technique, Dave Weckl above all, should learn the sense of pure lust, and also a bit of "subtraction" from this absolute genius of the sticks, perhaps the last giant in his field still alive.
For the rest, in the album, the absolute touch of the Maestro obviously stands out: perfect, fluid, highly inspired. Among the well-known standards "my foolish heart" (beautiful), "oleo", "the song is you", an incredible "straight, no chaser" that exceeds ten minutes, absolutely perfect and important to the extent that it pays homage to one of the fathers of modern pianism, that Monk whom ten encyclopedias would not suffice to fully explain. Then "on green dolphin street", always excellent, when tackled by greats (I remember a splendid version by Stan Getz).
After that, it tackles, very well, a score I deem untouchable, namely that "guess I'll hang my tears out to dry", whose version by Dexter Gordon in "Go!" was, until now, a supreme example of perfect and unbeatable ballad. Here Jarrett touches it with the finest fingers. He flies on his piano in a way that can only be blamed for excessive impeccability (which does not yet seem to be considered a flaw).
Live recording from 2001. Also interesting are the liner notes written by the Maestro, where he praises the Trio and the album, more than rightfully so, and critiques the world's noises and people's indiscipline, thus reminding us once again what kind of lovable and slightly hysterical genius we are dealing with.
It is truly an unmissable work for those who love the piano, the piano-double bass-drum "trio form," and, more generally, for those who truly love jazz.
Loading comments slowly
