The Melody At Night, With You

Keith Jarrett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1999)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B00002EPJH
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,781 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #17 in Music > Jazz > Modern Postbebop
  • #22 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > General AAS
  • #22 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > Bebop General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most beautiful recordings I've ever come across, December 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Melody At Night, With You (Audio CD)

We Germans like to quote Goethe - so let me start out with a free translation of a Goethe quote that comes to my mind when I think of this CD: "A true master proves himself when his means are limited."

Of course the circumstances under which this CD was produced (Jarret's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) have been (ab-)used by the record company (and by himself?) to hype up this album quite a lot. So until I actually had listened to the CD, I was quite sceptical about what to expect here. Did Jarret simply record some cocktail bar tunes, only presenting them in a pseudo-sophisticated fashion? The plain and simple answer is "anything but that". Every single track on this album is truely deep, inspired and meditative in the best way - only a very superficial listener can confuse this album with bar music. The songs on this CD may be played in bars, too - but never in Jarret's way. While bar music only pretends to be truely felt and meaningful - certain amounts of alcohol might be required for the listener to believe so, too - this music does the opposite: It does not have a certain fake sentimental attitude, but it simply sounds out simple and truthful. At first, one might be tempted to get a nice glass of wine (or a cup of coffee) ready, sit in an armchair, and try to just "hang loose" while listening. The thing is, though, that the music won't let you! Moreso, it does the opposite: It forces you to listen very, very closely - and what you'll hear you'll find amazing: Simple classic tunes played in a way that is never overdone, never superficial, but that reflects what can't easily be put into words and thus makes us play and listen to music at all: Truths about ourselves, the way we perceive outside and inside worlds...just find out for yourselves!

The music on this album never reminded me of Jarret's disease; it is not at all "music played by a patient". What is more: On his older recordings, I sometimes find Jarret's ("old", respectively "pre-CFS") style of producing cascades of sounds disturbing and out of place - it seems to me that there, he is occasionally providing a shiny and shimmery surface more than he is focusing on the core powers that lay within the music. On this album, he HAS to focus on the latter because of his disease. And through that he is maybe more of an artist than he ever was before: No more finger acrobatics (only a brief souvenir of that in "I Got It Bad"), but music which is simply beautiful and deep. On this album, Jarret's piano doesn't just sound, it sings.

102 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Piano...memories...and the time with you., March 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Melody At Night, With You (Audio CD)

Finally there's a solo piano album in my collection that can match John McArthur's `HIDDEN', Brad Mehldau's "Elegiac Cycle", Bill Evans' "Alone" and Keith Jarrett's legendary "Koln Concert". It's Keith Jarrett's `The Melody At Night With You'. Haven't heard such a great piano solo album in years. "The Melody At Night With You" was a revelation to me. Jarrett finally prooves that he CAN be the kind of piano player we new he could be. He tones down his signature moans and grunts, his beating of the piano and he plays, honestly and sincere. As a gift to his wife, Jarrett's playing takes your breath away. His playing is daring and adventurous, and because he has a perfect sense of structure as well, he never gets lost and keeps everything in perfect balance. And on top of this, his playing is deeply moving. I hear a lot of McArthur and Evans in Jarrett's playing on this album, but, much more important, I hear foremost a pianist with a distinct style of his own, that is warm and not pretentious. He is distinct. You will not regret buying this album.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JARRETT SCORES, March 24, 2002

By 

MOVIE MAVEN (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Melody At Night, With You (Audio CD)

In one of the most beautiful piano jazz albums I own, Keith Jarrett takes eleven standard songs about love and gives them a nighttime, quiet-by-the-fireplace treatment. He was obviously inspired/influenced by jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Barbara Carroll to name just two, but this album is certainly not a re-tread. It is an original.

Jarrett can do almost anything on the piano. I not only own some of his wonderful jazz recordings like "Whisper Not," but also classical recordings of works by Shostakovitch and Haydn. Everything Jarrett records comes out golden.

Every tune on this CD is special, but I particularly enjoyed the Gershwins' "I Loves You, Porgy" and Oscar Levant's "Blame It On My Youth" (a gorgeous song with a great lyric which, sadly, so few people sing or play). The American folksong "Shenandoah" is given a lovely, surprising arrangement by Jarrett. This album is a treasure. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.