CJ Shearn

Motian provides a different color with the straight eights which is nice on that vamp, but then because Motian and DeJohnette were house drummers for ECM, I can hear the overlap, too.

Yeah, that's incredible. When they go into that vamp zone it's unbeatable.

Listening to "At the Deer Head Inn" right now, I'm surprised at how explicity Motian is swinging, rather than the oblique way he usually did. It's the most raw Jarrett I've heard in the trio definitely.

I like "Tributaries" on that and the improvisation "Hearts in Space"? when they start hitting a real hard swing halfway through.

Well, I wonder if there will be more trio albums with free playing. Keith seems interested (with the exception of the most recent solo discs and "Sleeper") to bring trio shows out from a decade ago or more. From Jack DeJohnette's Facebook (which he really does maintain, we were talking about boxing this morning) it seems they've been doing more of the vamp based playing, and from what I understand "Deep Space" on "Somewhere" is a free improvisation?

Houston is a great cat, I've seen him live twice and he is a gracious human being.

I have a sizable chunk of the trio's albums and all the DVD's but I still gotta grab "Standards Live", "Standards in Norway", "Tribute", "The Cure" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" at some point. I gave a few albums to a student in the jazz class I TA'ed who was a Jarrett freak, and then there was one time I had so much stuff the Complete Live at the BN box had to go but I'll get that second hand sometime. Great music. I think certain Jarrett trio albums fit my mood at a certain time, if I want something firey, I put on "Still Live", "Whisper Not", the first two albums or the "Open Theater East" and "Standards I/II" DVD's. For more introspective playing I think the "Tokyo '96" DVD, and "Yesterdays" fill the bill. "Up For It" and "My Foolish Heart" share a kinship in balanced playing, between hot and medium simmer. "Changes" and "Changeless" is my go to for the free side of the trio, though I felt "Inside Out" is more focused than "Always Let Me Go".

Put the album cover under a black light, the light blue and orange font makes it turn electric LOL. Anyway yeah, that's always been a favorite of mine, lots of nice medium up grooving, and I think the title track vamp rivals "Autumn Leaves" on the Blue Note box. "Up For It" was reissued in Japan as an SHM CD, but I don't see the need, the original release sounds great. Also, "Yesterdays" I think is a lot better than when I first got it. Anyway, I did decide to grab "At the Deer Head Inn" and that should be here soon.

Listening to "Up For It" now, which I still think is great despite the lukewarm reception when it was released.

Almost every jazz artist is inspired by the Japanese atmosphere. I want to visit very close friends there in a few years and seeing a gig there would be great.

LOL. He does have a good sense of humor on the "Live at the Open Theater East" DVD, I wish they released that as a CD b/c it's one of the best releases of that Trio, IMO. I could just turn the TV off and listen though. Does anyone do that with concert discs or Blu Ray's that play continuously?

I agree with you completely on this Allen. I mean, we all love bop here, but it has to be integrated with other parts of the jazz grammar to stay relevant, that's why all the older stuff still sounds great b/c back then it was relevant. I wonder if Bird had lived if he would have gone a similar path as Trane.

LOL, ok, ok.

That's a shame. RIP

I'm glad he'll be giving us new compositions in the forum of a live disc.

Well, it would be nice to hear his views on other music too

I gotta get that one, I never got around to picking it up. I got around to re listening to "Yesterdays" and I think the ballads in particularly are great. The sound is amazing on that one too.

It seems like the new woman in his life has made him less uptight though from articles I've read from when she was first mentioned in the "Rio" liners.

I've never been bothered by Keith's vocalizations either. They show how in the moment he is. What would be very unusual is if ECM recorded a duo with him and Masabumi Kikuchi. That could get interesting.

All three men make noises though, very evident on "Solar/Extension" on the "Live at Open Theater East" DVD

etherbored, I should have "Somewhere" a few days after my birthday, but your assessment of the record in relation to others in the output is interesting. I'm gonna pull out "My Foolish Heart" and then "Yesterdays", I think with MFH the trio is a bit slow to warm up, then by "Oleo" they are cooking pretty hard. They sound inspired though and "Yesterdays" from what I recall is a bit more of a low boil, more inline with "Tokyo '96" (which I have on DVD in the "Live in Japan '93/96" set). The "Standards I/II" DVD's they smoke right off, and "Whisper Not" for me exudes a playfulness that Keith is back, not quite ready for the extended vamps of years prior but with a new thoughtfulness to the head solo head format. The odd thing about that one is Jack's ride cymbal is in the left channel, and it's captured so you REALLY hear the deep wash, rivets and overtones, almost like his Sabian is an old K.

Hoffman fares better on that tune, but his choices are still too safe and clinical to my ears. When Herring solos out of his Cannon bag, he means it. Hoffman sounds like he's playing a homework assignment. Whereas Josh Redman got cute and "hip" on "Spirit of the Moment" for example, he plays like he means it, and the energy makes that album fun to listen to,

Surprising, b/c John Kelman at AAJ thinks it's one of the trio's best in a long time.

The world is all over the place. Find a place where it is not there! This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top. The world is all over the place. Find a place where it is not there! This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top. Yes!

Theres quite a bit of hard swinging bop playing on "Still Live" actually, but "Whisper Not" and "Up For It" have an abundance of it, "Yesterdays" (up for reappraisal by me) has a bit too. "Whisper Not" has a gorgeously captured DeJohnette ride.