Customer Reviews

Ruta & Daitya

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was recorded in early 1971 while both were playing with Miles Davis. Jarrett offered the tapes to Manfred Eicher after he had recorded and released the excellent "Facing You". ECM released the album in 1973. It is listed as 2000 because ECM are playing the old game of temporarily deleting lots of titles and then reissuing them at different prices a few months later. Some are cheaper; some are dearer (have you seen the new asking price on "Tribute"! How do they justify that! ).

Back to "Ruta & Daitya". This is NOT a standards-type recording. On it Jarrett plays electric piano, organ & flute in addition to piano. De Johnette plays percussion and drums. Ian Carr describes it as being not unlike some of the material on "Spirits" which I have not heard at this stage.

I like it very much. I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect as it is nearly thirty years old!

...which is the best song on this album and the reason I own it. This is back when Keith Jarrett still had his feet on the ground, so to speak, before the whole solo concert thing. "You Know, You Know" has some of the most melodic drumming you'll ever hear, and it has a nice, lazy, funky feel to it. The interaction between Jarrett and DeJohnette is almost telepathic as they continually finish each other's phrases. The rhythmic feel these guys have is so merciless! The rest of the album is kind of self-indulgent, all the wood flute and hand-drum stuff doesn't really work, and I'm even ambivalent about the acoustic piano playing. It's the electric piano work that I like the best, so I guess that would put me on Mr. Jarrett's Big List of Philistines. Not an essential album, but if you're inclined to spring for an entire CD to get one particular tune, then you'll be rewarded.

This is indeed interesting. If you are new to Jarrett, I would recommend you hold out on purchasing this title until you've listened thouroughly to some of his more important solo and trio works. If you are familiar with Jarrett and don't have this album, get it! It will no doubt shed new light on someone you thought you had figured out. Harkening to the pipe-flute musing of his double-album Spirits, this set of duet's with uber-drummer (and longtime Jarrett collaborator) Jack Dejonette is anything but conventional. Most of the tracks produce images of Africa (some of them are named aptly so) and South America, themselves being deeply immersed in african polyrhythms and authentic-sounding flute playing on behalf of Jarrett. Ranging from droning dance music to magnificent piano work, the album also features the pre-anti-electric Jarrett on Organ and Electric Piano, a rare beast only heard on some other Miles Davis recordings (such as Live-Evil). Ruta and Daitya proves that Jarrett really did have a command of the electrical atmosphere, despite his current hatred for the music. The landscapes created by the duo here are different from any other Jarrett recording, and deeply funky. If not a mind-blowing album, Ruta and Daitya is interesting enough to last through many, many repeated listenings and suffer no loss of ingenuity.

This was the first jazz album I ever bought. I heard it when
I was in college in the 70's, in the music library at Northern
Illinois University. I loved it from start to finish, and also
was taken by the beautiful cover art (which, unfortunately, doesn't
appear on the CD.)

Since then I've delved deep into the many facets of jazz, but this
album remains a favorite. I play it first thing every Sunday
morning=my personal church service!

I have loved this album since buying it on vinyl over 20 years ago. It has remarkable interplay between Jarrett and DeJohnette. Polyrhythms abound, and there is some very funky organ work, along with plenty of woodflute, and of course, beautiful piano playing. Jarrett mixes blues, gospel and a whole lot more, and manages to build the tension to extreme levels, while maintaining the funky rhythms. The music sounds loose and raw, but this is essential Jarrett.

If you are a die hard Keith Jarrett and/or Jack Dejohnette fan and pretty much want everything that they have recorded like me, I would reccomend this.You may need to listen to it a few times to get in the groove with it. Keith is playing electric piano wich is unusual to hear for me, but very interesting. His flute pieces are always a real treat. It is an adventure to listen to!
If you are new to Keith Jarrett, I would reccomend any of his solo or trio works before you try this one. Jack Dejohnette is always a treat to listen to!

I bought this CD thinking there would be some nice Hammond action here mixed with some acoustic/electric piano blips here & there + some flute. What did I get? An album with the following: lots of piano with some very sparse, light NON Hammond parts. Plus, there is hardly a solid beat work quaking about! But still, I guess sometime I might be in the particular mood for an album such as this. So I won't sell it.

While certainly not an essential purchase, Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette's RUTA And DAITYA is an interesting and worthwhile exploration of pseudo-world music in a jazz context from an era when relatively few artists were engaging in such projects. It's also one of the very last recordings of Jarrett's electric piano and organ work, which in itself makes the album an intriguing curio for the keyboardist's many fans.
Recorded in 1971 During Jarrett and drummer DeJohnette's memorable tenures with Miles Davis, R&D shares, in its best moments, more than a bit of the sound and spirit of such contemporary Davis works as LIVE-EVIL, but with a softer and more coherent edge owing to the stripped-down instrumentation and comparitively relaxed rhythms. Both men offer fine performances on their major instruments, though Jarrett's "jack of all trades" efforts do fall shy of the mark at times. (His breathy, hamfisted flute work on the title track and "Algeria" is especially awkward; Yusef Lateef he ain't.)
Nevertheless, taken as a whole R&D is a pleasant, richly textured listen with enough subtleties to reward close attention and some surprising points of contrast and comparison with the later work of both musicians, separately and in tandem. Three and a half stars, rounded downward only because the proper audience for such an item is rather small and there are, alas, a few sketchy moments along the way.

If I had to sell one of my 46 Jarrett recordings this would be the one. For sure! Sorry, but I do not understand it, and never will. Maby some one can help me finding KJ on this album?