Rio

Keith Jarrett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B005JA8NCI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,983 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

40 years ago this year Keith Jarrett recorded his first ECM disc, the ground-breaking, solo piano Facing You. He has refined his approach to solo music many times since then, always finding new things to play. So it is here, in this engaging solo recording from Brazil. This specially-priced double album from Rio de Janeiro's is, Keith Jarrett feels, one of his best: "beautifully structured, jazzy, serious, sweet, playful, warm, economical, energetic, passionate, and connected with the Brazilian culture in a unique way. The sound in the hall was excellent and so was the enthusiastic audience."

Product Description

2011 two CD release from the Jazz pianist On April 9, 2011 Keith Jarrett returned to South America for the first time in decades to perform three solo concerts. The third and final concert found him in Rio de Janeiro in front of a packed house and enthralled audience. Inspired by the electrifying atmosphere, the pianist pulls a broad range of material from the ether: thoughtful/reflective pieces, abstract sound-structures, pieces that fairly vibrate with energy. The double album climaxes with a marvelous sequence of encores. 40 years ago this year Keith Jarrett recorded his first ECM disc, the ground-breaking, solo piano Facing You. He has refined his approach to solo music many times since then, always finding new things to play. So it is here, in this engaging solo recording from Brazil.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 87 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Never thought I would give this five stars November 9, 2011

By lee morgan

Format:Audio CD

I've had trepidations about Jarrett for years. Yes, he's a prodigy with an amazing "touch" but also at times, a raging egomaniac. The Standards trio became boring and Carnegie Hall (which I attended) was technically brilliant but a bit bloodless. This is simply his best recording in decades. The key to this "turnaround" is threefold: first, shorter pieces, so no long vamping as he seeks new themes, melodies, approaches while improvising solo; secondly, choice of material which runs the gamut from reflective and abstract pieces to South African township melodies and even R&B lines, and lastly; a minimum of vocalese/grunting which often mars his performances. Dont know if it was just a night that everything clicked, closure from his divorce, a sense of where he is in his career but as John Fordham wrote in the Guardian, this is a true return to form.

52 of 58 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Expectations not quite met November 16, 2011

By Kaspar Meyer

Format:Audio CD

I am a big fan of Keith Jarrett; I've seen him live on three occasions and probably own about 30 of his albums. When "Rio" was announced, a lot of superlatives were thrown out there - Jarrett himself apparently called his producer from the airport right after the concert to make sure the release would have top priority. I assume it was all the advance praise that got me a little too excited and then somewhat disappointed when the CDs finally arrived. Let me be clear: to anyone not well acquainted with Jarrett's music, this must be a wonderful concert, which certainly compares favorably to the vast majority of improvised solo piano performances by other artists. In my opinion, however, it is not fundamentally different from, or better than, some of Jarrett's other recent recordings (like Carnegie Hall or Paris/London). Part XI, for instance, is certainly an enjoyable blues, but it once again uses the baseline we already know from the 1988 Paris Concert and the 2005 Carnegie Hall Concert. To me personally, the recent releases just do not compare to the earlier concerts. It was performances like Lausanne, Bremen (clearly my personal favorite), Köln, the Sun Bear Concerts in Japan, Paris or Vienna, that leave you sitting there with goose bumps and tears in your eyes, wondering how a human brain (and the pair of hands directed by it) can spontaneously generate music of such intensity and complexity.

I would like to emphasize again, however, that I bought this CD with very high expectations, so it may not be a surprise that these expectations were not quite met. I would definitely recommend "Rio" to anyone who loves solo piano.... However, if you had never heard of Keith Jarrett before and asked me to introduce you to his most astonishing performances, "Rio" would not be among them; instead, I'd give you a collection of some of the concerts mentioned earlier - those would blow you away. Read more ›

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Performing within Rio's Musical Miasma November 15, 2011

By Dr. Debra Jan Bibel TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Rio de Janeiro, and Brazil at large, has long been appreciated for its wide variety of music -- samba, bossa nova, choro, forró, African spiritual, Latin jazz, and American- and European-influenced popular -- that seem to pervade its atmosphere. This 2-disc album of Keith Jarrett in solo improvisations performed before an audience in Rio seems appropriate to the musical spirit of this vibrant city. Indeed, the recordings are his best solo studies in decades, and we are delighted that he has regained the lyricism and joy of earlier times. One new distinction over recent albums is the happy near absence of the random din of keys at the beginning as he vamped for inspiration from some cluster of notes. Instead, he plunges in directly and allows the adventure to dictate the course.

The first track, for instance, is full of jagged kinetic energy and closes with a touch of playful wit. This is followed by a slow thoughtful melancholia. The third track is strong in traditional jazz form whose several themes give the etude romance and cheer. Part IV, an urbane ballad in mood and development, is a 4-minute gem. The next piece propels forward as a lively soul anthem. The last track on the 39-minute first disc has a flavor of Spain, a bolero with tinges of flamenco and the bullring. The second disc of 51 minutes consists of 9 tracks, which also vary in style. It opens with a very romantic ballad. Part VIII is another song, this one allegro and joyful. A sea of high arpeggios leads the next track; its sweet gossamer development has a Chinese mode and a pastoral mood. The aforementioned noisy vamp does return with Part X, although there is a musical core that seems to spin out flares. The ensuing brief boogie-woogie blues allows us to exhale and smile as we are again in familiar territory.... The final four pieces -- a quasi-classical chordal diversion; a serious song full of passion and regret; an uplifting R&B hymn; and a tremolo-driven sentimental farewell -- complete the outstanding concert. The musical miasma of Rio was good for Jarrett, and now this album, truly a major opus and milestone for him ranking with the fabled Köln Concert, is good for us. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Bit More Relaxed January 29, 2012

By jurgfella

Format:Audio CD

For those people who have followed Keith Jarrett's solo piano career, they know that in the 1970s Keith Jarrett became famous subsequent to the release of the Köln Concerts. Jarrett was reknowned for playing concerts in which he would play for as long as 45 minutes without pause. A whole series of these was recorded in 1976 in Japan and released as the ten LP Sun Bear Concerts. Jarrett then left the solo piano medium for the most part, concentrating much more in his "Standards" work and other pieces, only to return to the medium from time to time. Starting in 2002 with Radiance, Jarrett has occasionally put out solo piano recordings (Radiance in 2002, The Carnegie Hall Concert in 2005, Paris/London: Testament in 2008, and now Rio in 2011.) All of these recordings seem to follow a similar format. Jarrett is now playing much shorter pieces (typically from 3 to 10 minutes) and the pieces wander less than his old recordings do. (In this regard they are more similar to his 1970's era studio recordings.) And the pieces all tend to fall into one of three categories: they are either (1) fast and atonal, (2) stately and melodic, or (3) funky. The schism between these styles has become a little bit too predictable, the emphasis on the atonal a little bit too heavy. What is generally missing from the latter recordings is any sense that Jarrett has found a "muse" and is following it.

That said, on this latest recording, the schism is a little less pronounced than it has been, the distinctions a little bit more relaxed. There aren't the same highs as when Jarrett was really in the flow on some of his earlier works. But Jarrett finds some very nice moments here and, after all, this is Keith Jarrett. We're not talking about one of his pale imitators.... Still, I wish Jarrett could find his muse more often and do less of the technically impressive but emotionally inscrutable material that he has been prone to in the new decade. Finally, other reviewers have noted that there is less of the familiar grunting and vocalizing on on this recording than on many of the previous ones. This is a welcome change. Read more ›