Paris Concert

Infobox Album |
Name = The Paris Concert
Type = live album
Artist = Keith Jarrett


Background = lightred
Released = 1990
Recorded = October 17, 1988
Genre = Jazz
Length = 50:07
Label = ECM Records
Producer = Manfred Eicher|
Last album = "Changeless"
(1987)
This album = "The Paris Concert"
(1988)
Next album = "J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations"
(1989)

"The Paris Concert" is a live solo piano album by seminal American pianist Keith Jarrett, and released by ECM Records. It was recorded on October 17, 1988 at the Salle Pleyel, in Paris, France in front of a live audience.

The first track on the album is simply entitled "October 17, 1988," named after the day of the concert. It is one of Jarrett's unpremeditated solo works; a 38 minute-long improvisation without pause. The first 7 to 8 minutes is a very dark, classically influenced, almost chorale-like ostinato in C minor, very reminiscent of a church hymn played on an organ. After leaving this melodic development, Jarrett plays a repeated bass vamp in his left hand that has almost a rock-ish feel to it, and in his right hand he improvises some very intense, almost sinister lines allluding to F minor and B-flat minor. After resolving again with the slow Baroque-esque themes again, he concludes. The second track, a ballad by American jazz composers Russ Freeman and Jerry Gladstone entitled "The Wind,", is relatively brief at just over six minutes long; Jarrett uses much of his classical training and technique to embellish the lyrical melody. Finally, the third track is another shorter piece, an improvised C major blues, played in a sultry, slow New Orleans "street beat" style.

The album was first released on November 26, 1990. It was also one of Jarrett's last solo piano efforts before his problems with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Track listing

#"October 17, 1988" (Keith Jarrett) – 38:23
#"The Wind" (Russ Freeman/Jerry Gladstone) - 6:32
#Blues (Keith Jarrett) - 5:22

Personnel

Keith Jarrett – piano