Facing You | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 1972 [1] | |||
Recorded | November 10, 1971 | |||
Studio | Arne Bendiksen Studio Oslo, Norway | |||
Length | 47:37 | |||
Label | ECM 1017 ST | |||
Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
Keith Jarrett chronology | ||||
| ||||
Keith Jarrett solo piano chronology | ||||
|
Facing You is a solo album by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded on November 10, 1971, and released on ECM March the following year as Jarrett's first with the label. [2] The album is praised as "a hallmark recording of solo piano" [3] that "altered the course of jazz". [2]
Facing You was recorded in Oslo, Norway, on November 10; Jarrett had a day off from performing with the Miles Davis Septet. [2]
In a 2000 interview with Terry Gross, Jarrett explained how the idea of long solo piano concerts began:
It started out maybe as a result of recording 'Facing You', I can’t remember. But it started out, I remember, at the Heidelberg Jazz Festival, where I was supposedly, I wasn’t very well-known, I guess. And I came out and did a solo thing. And it was tunes, but I started to connect them somehow. Like, I’d have these transitional parts that connected everything. And then that somehow just moved slowly into the expanded solo concert, where there are no songs whatsoever and everything is improvised on the spot. [4]
In a DownBeat interview with Bob Palmer, Jarrett expressed his gratitude to Eicher for the opportunity to record for ECM: "If I hadn't found him there would be no solo albums, no Facing You, let alone a successful triple album. I would have a desk full of scores that have never been rehearsed, not to mention played or recorded. There's no way I can repay that possibility having come to me so early and at such a good time except to produce more music for ECM. They took the risk and the expense, or Manfred did." [5]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [7] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [8] |
Tom Hull | B+ ( ) [9] |
In a 1972 review for Rolling Stone , Bob Palmer called the album "perhaps the best solo piano recording since Art Tatum left us." [10]
The album won the Grand Prix des Festivals at Montreux in 1973. [11]
The AllMusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 4½ stars, stating:
A remarkable effort that reveals more and more with each listen, this recording has stood the test of time, and is unquestionably a Top Three recording in Keith Jarrett's long and storied career.... Facing You is one of the most important recordings in contemporary jazz for several reasons, aside from being beautifully conceived and executed by pianist Keith Jarrett. It is a hallmark recording of solo piano in any discipline, a signature piece in the early ECM label discography, a distinct departure from mainstream jazz, a breakthrough for Jarrett, and a studio prelude for his most famous solo project to follow, The Köln Concert. [3]
In October 2007 writing for jazz.com, Ted Gioia gave the track "In Front" a 100/100 rating, stating:
Here on the opening track of his first solo piano recording, Keith Jarrett announces a new era of jazz keyboard music. Even today, decades later, we can hear the repercussions in contemporary piano stylings. Jarrett helped shape a new language for improvised music, demonstrated the marvels of his conception and touch, explored novel paths of thematic development, and recalibrated the roles of the left and right hands in piano jazz —all in the course of a 10-minute performance. My favorite moments: the funky ostinato groove that kicks in right before the four minute mark, and then the shimmering resolution that dawns two minutes later. Jarrett still had his first solo concert records —the edifices of Bremen, Lausanne and Köln—ahead of him, but here at age 26 he had arrived, no longer the young prodigy of jazz, but a mature artist charting the future. [12]
Writing for JazzTimes in 2011, pianist Kenny Werner stated:
There are so many things in this piece, starting with Jarrett's interactive left hand and subtle right-hand accompaniment. The harmonies are unquestioningly new; all the beautiful complexities of the head release into a hybrid boogie-woogie or barrelhouse style. In a period when jazz was hipper and unsentimental, Jarrett reintroduced early American elements that are taken for granted today-sort of inventing the country/gospel-style harmony employed by many contemporary artists. Similarly, in the '60s and '70s, the style of linear playing over chord changes tended to be more rhythmic than melodic and generally based on pentatonic scales. Jarrett reintroduced an element of ornamentation that had not been heard since the music of Liszt and Chopin... although his most famous solo recording, The Köln Concert, and all subsequent solo recordings, are much better known to the public, for me his first solo recording, Facing You, reigns supreme. Its innovative approach to composition and musical development was shocking at the time. Jarrett radiated as much warmth, heart and beauty in his playing as he did virtuosity and intellect. Jarrett’s playing represents new and innovative levels of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic development bundled with the vastest creativity imaginable. It was a new standard of playing in its time and still is today. [13]
All tracks are written by Keith Jarrett
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "In Front" | 10:09 |
2. | "Ritooria" | 5:57 |
3. | "Lalene" | 8:39 |
Total length: | 24:45 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "My Lady, My Child" | 7:24 |
2. | "Landscape for Future Earth" | 3:36 |
3. | "Starbright" | 5:07 |
4. | "Vapallia" | 3:57 |
5. | "Semblence" | 3:02 |
Total length: | 23:06 47:51 |
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a group leader and solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, including Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music.
The Köln Concert is a live solo double album by pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Opera House in Köln, West Germany on 24 January 1975 and released on ECM Records later that year.
Manfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records.
Paris Concert is a live solo album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on October 17, 1988, and released on ECM in April 1990.
Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne is a live solo triple album by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Salle de Spectacles d'Epalinges in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Kleiner Sendesall in Bremen, Germany on March 20 and July 12, 1973, respectively and released on ECM November that same year—Jarrett's debut solo live album for the label.
Sun Bear Concerts is a live box set by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett compiling five solo piano concerts performed over two weeks during his November 1976 tour in Japan and released on ECM in January 1978.
Vienna Concert is a live solo album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded on July 13, 1991 at the Vienna State Opera in Vienna, Austria, and released by ECM September the following year.
Belonging is a studio album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released on ECM later that year—the debut of Jarrett's "European Quartet", featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Because Jarrett's contract with ABC/Impulse! prevented him from performing with the quartet under his own name, the group became known as the "Belonging" quartet.
My Song is an album by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, recorded in November 1977 and released on ECM in June the following year—the second release from his "European Quartet" featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, after Belonging (1974).
The Survivors' Suite is an album by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded in April 1976 and released on ECM the following year. The quartet—Jarrett's "American Quartet"—features saxophonist Dewey Redman and rhythm section Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.
Staircase is a solo double album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded in May 1976 and released on ECM the following year.
Ruta and Daitya is jazz album by pianist Keith Jarrett and drummer Jack DeJohnette recorded in May 1971 and released on ECM in 1973—one of Jarrett's rare performances on electric keyboard.
The Carnegie Hall Concert is a solo live double-album by the American pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall on September 26, 2005 and released on ECM September the following year.
Dark Intervals is a live solo album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo on April 11, 1987 and released on ECM the following year.
Over the years, Keith Jarrett has recorded in many different settings: jazz piano trio, classical and baroque music, improvised contemporary music, solo piano, etc. Well known for his tremendous impact on the piano and jazz scene, as a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and first class improviser, Keith Jarrett's original output embraces many different musical styles and spans a period of almost 50 years, comprising a generous production of more than 100 albums.
Concerts is a live solo triple album of by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Festspielhaus in Bregenz, Austria on May 28, 1981 and the Herkulessaal in Munich, West Germany on June 2, 1981 and released on ECM September the following year.
In the Light is a double album of contemporary classical music composed by Keith Jarrett, recorded in February 1973 and released on ECM April the following year—his fourth release for the label.
Invocations/The Moth and the Flame is a solo double album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded in October 1980 and November 1979 respectively and released on ECM in May 1981.
Book of Ways: The Feeling of Strings is a solo double album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded over four hours in July 1986 and released on ECM September the following year, comprising nineteen clavichord improvisations.
Munich 2016 is a live solo double-album by American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett recorded at the Philharmonic Hall in Munich on July 16, 2016 and released on ECM in November 2019.