ECM: Jarrett’s 2016 Tour Concludes in Rome

 

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of DL Media Music) 

This month began with the release of the fifth and final concert recording of a performance by pianist Keith Jarrett over the course of a European tour of solo programs during 2016. The title of the album, produced by ECM (as were the previous albums), is Roma; and the performance took place in Rome at the Santa Cecilia Hall. Once again, Jarrett identifies his tracks simply as “Part” followed by a Roman numeral; but this only accounts for the first ten tracks. The performance concludes with two “standards:” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “It’s A Lonesome Old Town.”

Now that the project has been completed, I must confess that my overall impressions are somewhat mixed. Granted, there is no shortage of inventiveness in all of those tracks that Jarrett has identified simply as “Part” (followed by a Roman numeral). Will I revisit any of the five albums? Probably, having completed the journey, I shall put the listening experiences aside, at least for the remainder of this year. After that, I am more likely to be interested in what Jarrett will do next (assuming that he will be doing something) than in revisiting the full scope of his European journey. Put another way, I would prefer the possibility that Jarrett will visit San Francisco, allowing me the luxury of enjoying “in the moment” listening to his performance!