Keith Jarrett - Hymns Spheres (1976) [2LP] {ECM} (24-96 vinyl rip)

A very unusual record – one that has Keith Jarrett playing some solo organ – and a baroque organ at that – but in ways that are quite different than you might expect! The sounds here are amazing – almost noisy at points, as Jarrett really works the instrument in an exploration of textures and tones, less in a pursuit of melody – so what might initially look like one of Jarrett's neo-classical recordings is instead one of his most experimental – especially as the set moves on! "Hymn Of Remembrance" initiates the album – with a slightly sentimental quality – but Keith then shifts into his nine-part "Spheres" suite – which is full of amazing textures and sounds!

Restlessly searching out new territory for improvisations, Keith Jarrett tackles the massive Karl Joseph Riepp "Trinity" Baroque pipe organ at the Benedictine Abbey in Ottobeuren, Germany. He starts out with a pastoral "Hymn of Remembrance," then embarks upon a long nine-movement series of "Spheres" before closing with a grand "Hymn of Release." The devotee of Jarrett's piano will quickly discover that his organ idiom has nothing to do with his piano performances; he likes slow-moving, pulseless, sometimes dissonant, sometimes reverent or ecstatic smears of sound (which makes practical sense in the hugely reverberant churches where pipe organs are found). In the ninth movement, Jarrett can fool you into thinking that he is playing floating electronic space music (on an 18th-century organ!). Yet if one must apply a category, despite the improvisatory element, this double-CD is contemporary classical organ music, much closer to that of Olivier Messiaen than anything in the jazz world – and only intermittently as striking.

Note: on the single CD issue, only "Spheres" is listed.

ARTISTS

Keith Jarrett – pipe organ

TRACKLIST

A1. Hymn Of Remembrance 4:02
A2. 1st Movement 7:40
A3. 2nd Movement 12:59
B1. 3rd Movement 10:13
B2. 4th Movement 12:20
C1. 5th Movement 4:34
C2. 6nd Movement 11:25
C3. 7th Movement 8:16
D1. 8th Movement 5:18
D2. 9th Movement 12:06
D3. Hymn Of Release 4:05