Noah Haidu’s Response to Jarrett’s Repertoire

Cover of the album being discussed

This coming Saturday, May 8, will be Keith Jarrett’s 76th birthday. Those familiar with Jarrett’s biography probably know that he sustained two major strokes in 2018, the second of which left him paralyzed. After two years of rehabilitation, he was able to walk with a cane and could play the piano only with his right hand. This past October Jarrett told The New York Times that he does not see any further performances in his future.

In a gesture of homage to Jarrett, jazz pianist Noah Haidu recorded his latest album at the end of last year. Entitled SLOWLY: Song for Keith Jarrett, the album will be released by Sunnyside Communications this coming Friday as a “birthday celebration.” Haidu recruited two jazz masters from the latter half of the twentieth century to provide rhythm for this trio album. His bass player is Buster Williams, and the drummer is Billy Hart. Both of them are given more than ample time to explore their own riffs in response to Haidu’s keyboard work. As usual, Amazon.com is currently processing pre-orders for this recording.

Ironically, of the eight tracks on this album, the only one that credits Jarrett as a composer appears to be mistaken. According to the credits on the ECM Hamburg ’72 live recording of Jarrett’s trio performance with Charlie Haden on bass and percussionist Paul Motian, made (in 1972) at the NDR Jazz Workshop, “Rainbow” was composed by Jarrett’s first wife, Margot. On his SLOWLY album, Haidu uses that tune as a point of departure for his own personal reflection on Jarrett; and the smooth transition is an engaging one.

The only other track composed by Haidu is the one bearing the album title, “Slowly.” However, Williams is credited with the opening track, “Air Dancing;” and Hart is responsible for “Duchess” and “Lorca.” The remaining three tracks are standards from different periods in the twentieth century: “What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!,” “Georgia on My Mind,” and “But Beautiful.” I was not able to find recordings of Jarrett playing any of these three pieces, but my Jarrett resources are more limited than I would like them to be!

Taken as a whole, this is a satisfying album of the sort of straight-ahead jazz than I find myself missing in my encounters with recent recordings. Haidu’s improvisations are consistently engaging. They may not be as intricately convoluted as many of Jarrett’s memorable efforts. However, I am willing to take them as representative of Haidu’s own distinctive “voice;” and that is more than enough to engage my focused attention.