New Keith Jarrett Album Revisits Unheard Gems

The jazz world is in for an unexpected treat this fall. Keith Jarrett ’67, one of the most influential pianists and improvisors of the last 60 years, is slated to release The Old Country: More from the Deer Head Inn on November 8. The album, released by ECM, serves as a companion piece to Jarrett's beloved 1994 release, At the Deer Head Inn. It includes cuts from the same 1992 stint at the Poconos jazz destination, and features Jarrett's longtime collaborators Paul Motian on drums and Gary Peacock on bass.

Fans got their first taste of the new record last week with the trio's rendition of the classic Thelonious Monk composition "Straight, No Chaser."
 

"Jarrett leans heavily into the chromaticism of Monk’s melody, over a brisk, cruising swing beat," Jazz critic Nate Chinen wrote for WRTI. "Peacock, whose walking bass lines are worthy of close study, connects effortlessly with Motian, his old partner in a mid-‘60s edition of the Bill Evans Trio. The drumming is impeccably crisp, with Motian maintaining a tippin’ ride cymbal and a conversational chatter on his snare."

Listen closely (or frankly, even not-so-closely) and you'll also catch Jarrett's hallmark vocalizations as he hums and groans along to his solo melody in a style some fans praise, others endure, but most can instantly recognize as classic Keith.

The release carries added significance in light of Jarrett's retirement from live performance in 2020, after suffering two strokes. It serves as a reminder of the artist's enduring influence and his singular place in the landscape of 20th century jazz.

After leaving Berklee in 1968, Jarrett spent his early professional years backing artists including Art Blakey and Miles Davis before establishing himself as a superstar solo pianist in the mid-’70s. His Köln Concert remains the best-selling piano album of all time. Jarrett's ability to weave together jazz, classical, blues, gospel, and more avant-garde textures with an almost pop-music melodic sensibility, all on the spot, has continued to inspire players five decades later. 

He also played a central role, through his longtime partnership with the ECM label, in the development of kind of pseudo-genre we might call "ECM music," sometimes called "third stream," which has been blurring the boundaries between jazz, classical, and avant-garde music for the past five decades.

A sign of the pianist's enduring influence: the multiple classes Berklee offers that study Jarrett or name-check him in the course descriptions—Solo Piano Improvisations of Keith Jarrett; The Music of Jarrett, Hancock, and Corea; ECM/Free Jazz; and Style Development for Jazz Composers.