| Sleeper | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | July 2012 [1] | |||
| Recorded | April 16, 1979 | |||
| Venue | Nakano Sun Plaza Tokyo, Japan | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 1:46:53 | |||
| Label | ECM ECM 2290/91 | |||
| Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
| Keith Jarrett chronology | ||||
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| Keith Jarrett European Quartet chronology | ||||
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Sleeper is a double album by Keith Jarrett's "European Quartet" recorded on April 16, 1979 in Tokyo, and released on ECM 33 years later in 2012. [2] [3]
Sleeper was recorded in Japan during a tour in which, according to www.keithjarrett.org, Jarrett's "European Quartet" performed 13 times in 20 days. [4] Below is the list of the dates and venues:
Some of the music played in Tokyo (different dates other than April 16) is collected in the album Personal Mountains
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz |  [5] |
| The Guardian | [6] |
In a review for AllMusic, Christian Genzel wrote: "As a companion piece to the live albums Nude Ants and Personal Mountains..., Sleeper offers another noteworthy document of the creative interplay between these four musicians." [7] John Kelman, writing for All About Jazz, called the quartet a "very special and unforgettable group", and commented: "If Sleeper accomplishes any single thing, beyond being a stellar performance from a group that has rightfully, in the ensuing years, become legendary— and remains a touchstone for many musicians, young and old, decades after the fact— it's that this two-disc, 107-minute recording is a reminder of just how compelling a composer Jarrett can be. [5]
Writing for The Guardian, John Fordham called the album "enthralling", and stated: "'Personal Mountains' is a 20-minute tour de force of shifting harmonies and chord-punching Latin grooving. 'Innocence' drifts in freefall until it becomes a softly swaying love song. 'So Tender' has the shape of a standard ballad... but then loosens. 'Oasis' sounds like an Ornette Coleman lament, and 'New Dance' is probably as close as any of these performers came to playing a mainstream jazz-calypso like Sonny Rollins' famous version of 'Don't Stop the Carnival'. There's lots of free-improv, too, but the range of this remarkable group played a big part in its enduring influence on contemporary jazz." [6]
In an article for Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo wrote: "If ever it were possible for a recording to be even more alive than the day it was laid down, this is it—such is the value of its release. In addition to the symbiotic rhythm section, Garbarek naysayers may find themselves knocked on their rears by the exuberant, life-affirming themes issuing from his bell, each fitting snugly in Jarrett's pianistic relief. A classic before it ever hit the shelves, Sleeper may just be the ECM event of the year and is, as its title implies, a dream to hear at long last." [8]
CD 1
CD 2
Production
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.
Jon Ivar Christensen was a Norwegian jazz drummer. He was married to actress, minister, and theater director Ellen Horn, and was the father of singer and actress Emilie Stoesen Christensen.
Eyes of The Heart is an album by American pianist Keith Jarrett featuring his "American Quartet", made up of Jarrett himself, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. It was recorded at the Theater am Kornmarkt, Bregenz in Austria in May 1976 and was released in 1979 by ECM Records. The studio album The Survivors' Suite had been recorded one month earlier.
Nils Paul "Palle" Danielsson is a Swedish jazz double bassist born in Stockholm, Sweden. From 1974 to 1979, he was a member of Keith Jarrett's quartet. He is the brother of pianist Monica Dominique.
Trygve Seim is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer. Seim has released numerous albums since 1992, including over 20 albums for ECM Records as a composer, band-leader or co-band-leader.
Changes is a jazz album recorded by Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock in January 1983 during the same sessions that produced the two albums Standards, Vol. 1 and Standards, Vol. 2; the albums together started a long performing and recording career for what became known as the Standards Trio. Changes was released by ECM Records in September 1984.
Sun Bear Concerts is a five-concert album compilation of solo piano performances by Keith Jarrett that took place during his November 1976 tour in Japan. It was originally released as a ten-LP set in 1978. It was rereleased in 1989 as a six-CD box set that added encores from three of the concerts, totalling 6:37:46 of music.
Belonging is a studio album by American pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released a few months later in October on ECM. It is his first album with his "European Quartet," featuring Jan Garbarek, 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 by ECM Records in June 1978. After Belonging (1974) this would be the second studio album by Jarrett's 'European Quartet' featuring Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen.
Nude Ants is a live album by American pianist Keith Jarrett which was released by ECM Records in 1980. It was recorded during different live performances by Jarrett's 'European Quartet', featuring Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, at the Village Vanguard in New York City in May 1979. The title of the album is a play on the phrase "New Dance", which is the title of the penultimate song.
Personal Mountains is a live album by American pianist Keith Jarrett's 'European Quartet' recorded in 1979 and released by ECM Records 10 years later, in 1989. The recording documents the band featuring Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen), in different live performances in Tokyo in April 1979.
Paris / London: Testament is a live solo piano album by American pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded at the Salle Pleyel in Paris November 26, 2008 and the Royal Festival Hall in London the next week on December first, and released as a three CD set on ECM in October the following year.
Yesterdays is a live jazz album by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette recorded in concert on April 30, 2001 at the Metropolitan Festival Hall in Tokyo and also at the sound-check recording of April 24, 2001 at the Orchard Hall in Tokyo that would give way to Always Let Me Go. It was released by ECM Records in 2009.
Witchi-Tai-To is an album by the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet released on the ECM label and performed by Garbarek, Stenson, Palle Danielsson, and Jon Christensen.
The Out-of-Towners is a live album by the jazz trio of Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette, recorded in July 2001 at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and released by ECM Records in August 2004.
Grazing Dreams is the second album by American sitarist and composer Collin Walcott. It was recorded in February 1977 and released on ECM later that year.
Somewhere is a live album by Keith Jarrett's "Standards Trio," recorded in Switzerland on July 11, 2009 and released on ECM in May 2013.
Last Dance is a 2014 joint album by American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett and American jazz double bass player Charlie Haden, known for their long collaboration from the 1960s onward. The album was recorded in March 2007 at Jarrett's home studio in Oxford Township, New Jersey, at the same session that yielded Jasmine (2010). "Where Can I Go Without You" and "Goodbye" are alternate takes of the versions released on that album.
No End is a one-man-band instrumental album by American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett, where he performs all the parts through overdubbing between "two Tandberg cassette recorders". Due to its way of recording and musical style it can be seen as part of his “experimental circle”, along with the early folk rock Restoration Ruin (1968) or the tribal Spirits (1986).
Different Rivers is an album by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Trygve Seim, released on ECM Records. Released in 2000, Different Rivers was Seim's solo debut for ECM Records and began his long association with the label, as both a leader and sideman.