The legendary Keith Jarrett Trio, playing live at NDR Funkhaus, Hamburg in July 1972, is captured at the very apex of its creativity on an album released for the first time by ECM. From the first notes, with its radiant piano, it is clear that something special is happening here.
The trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian - formed in 1966 - was Jarrett's first great band, his choice of players a masterstroke. With the bassist who had learned his craft in Ornette Coleman's band, and the drummer from Bill Evans's ground-breaking trio, Jarrett was able to explore the full scope of modern jazz, from poetic balladry to hard-swinging time-playing to ferocious and fiery free music.
The improvisation heard in the Hamburg concert includes episodes with Keith on soprano sax and flute as well as piano, while Motian expands the role of percussion in the music, developing the supple, elastic, supremely unpredictable vocabulary that would subsequently become such a crucial part of both Jarrett's groups and Paul's own. The interaction between the three musicians is uncanny throughout, reaching a peak in an emotion-drenched performance of Charlie Haden's "Song for Che" (this is Jarrett's only recording of a piece that has become a new jazz classic).
ECM set up the 1972 tour of the Jarrett Trio, including the German radio concert from which this album is drawn. Manfred Eicher returned to the original tapes, remixing the music for this edition together with Jan Erik Kongshaug in Oslo in July 2014.
Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano, flute, percussion, soprano saxophone), Charlie Haden (double bass), Paul Motian (drums, percussion)