It takes a while to get over the shock of seeing an ECM Records sleeve as a riot of blazing yellows and reds rather than the usual mysterious monochrome. Then you listen to this solo-piano double album, recorded live only six months ago in Rio, and the outburst makes sense. The story goes that Jarrett was on the phone to ECM boss Manfred Eicher barely before the applause had died down, convinced this was his best gig in years – and he's right. Warmer and less abstract than his still-remarkable 2006 Carnegie Hall solo show, a constantly changing (and totally improvised) soundscape of rocking African and Latin vamps, fragile love songs, guitar-like blues and sparingly deployed free jazz, Rio represents Jarrett at his most exuberant. Though the spurted, staccato figures and stamping chords of Part 1 suggest an edgy set, the romantic harmonies and gentle trills of Part 2 and its churning, funky successor take the music to more open ground. Wistful ballads give way to township-jazz stomps like early Abdullah Ibrahim, Latin groovers to Cecil Tayloresque free jazz, rocking rural blues, love songs full of internal conversations. For old Jarrett fans and prospective new ones, it's a must.
Contributor
John Fordham
John Fordham is the Guardian's main jazz critic. He has written several books on the subject, reported on it for publications including Time Out, Sounds, Wire and Word, and contributed to documentaries for radio and TV. He is a former editor of Time Out, City Limits and Jazz UK, and regularly contributes to BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3
John Fordham
The GuardianTramp
