thanks to these recordings we can once again marvel at the interplay and empathy between these three remarkable musicians.
ECM 2828 / 659 7656
Keith Jarrett (piano); Gary Peacock (double bass); Paul Motian (drums)
Recorded September 16, 1992
Following the muse of many before him, Keith Jarrett jumped at the opportunity to play at a small intimate venue in front of an appreciative audience. The venue was the Deer Head Inn, Allentown, Pennsylvania, which just happened to be the town where Jarrett grew up and the venue that had given him his first serious gig on piano when he was just sixteen years old.
The occasion was to be the relaunch of the venue as it changed hands from the original owners and founders Bob and Fay Lehr who had decided to retire and the club was to be run by their daughter and Dona and son-in-law Christopher Solliday. Fortuitously, Bill Goodwin a friend of Jarrett’s had offered to record the gig, and when the realising the quality of the performance the tapes duly found themselves in the hands of ECM boss, Manfred Eicher.
In April 1994 the single album At The Deer Head Inn was released to critical acclaim, and now thirty years later a second volume of music from that memorable evening has been made available. Given Jarrett’s penchant for releasing bulky box sets, with hindsight it seems strange that more of the material was not released at the time; but we can be grateful that Eicher and Jarrett have at last got together to select material for this album.
Not for a moment is there an indication that the material is any way inferior to the original album, and listening to both records back to back one is transported into that other realm where iit is almost as if you are present in the venue.
Another aspect that marks the occasion and music as special is that it is the only time that Jarrett, Peacock and Motian played together as a trio, and the results are very different from the well established Standards Trio. Motian plays with a much lighter touch and easier swing than DeJohnette, and this allows the music to breathe in a different, yet equally natural flow.
The drummer is forceful and driving on an up tempo ‘Straight No Chaser’ that paradoxically throws up a propulsive support from bass and drums with a fluidity that is felt with a delicate touch from Motian’s playing. This allows Peacock to feel the beat in a whole new way and lines positively sing, and free Jarrett to spin melodic lines that otherwise might have seemed at odds with Monk’s composition.
‘All of You’ is a regular in Jarrett’s repertoire, but what is refreshing to hear in this set is the pianist’s take on Nat Adderley’s ‘The Old Country’ and ‘Golden Earrings’ with music by Victor Young which is all too seldom heard, and is delivered with a relaxed swing.
Ballads are represented with another Jarrett staple in ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’ and the Gershwin’s ‘How Long Has This Been Going On’. Throughout these eight new performances, the trio is totally focussed and listening as the addition of Motian audibly changes the dynamic.
Thirty years on, alit has changed. Both Peacock and Motian are gone, and Jarrett no longer able to play; but thanks to these recordings we can once again marvel at the interplay and empathy between these three remarkable musicians.
