Record Reviews

KEITH JARRETT ~ BELONGING ECM 1050 (Barcode: 042282911520) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1974 Released: 2000 During the 1970s, the legendary US pianist / composer Keith JarrettFind albums by this artist was leading a "double life", recording in parallel as a leader of two quartets: The recordings of the US quartet were released on ImpulseFind albums on this label and those of the Scandinavian quartet on ECMFind albums on this label, a relatively new (at the time) small European (German) label, which in time was destined to become the world´s leading record label associated with the most important musicians active in the late 20th Century. This album was the first recording of the Scandinavian quartet, which consisted of Norwegian saxophonist Jan GarbarekFind albums by this artist, Swedish bassist Palle DanielssonFind albums by this artist and Norwegian drummer Jon ChristensenFind albums by this artist. Jarrett explored completely two different musical idioms with his two quartets: The US quartet, firmly based in the US Jazz tradition, boldly expanded the borders of the genre, whereas the Scandinavian quartet plunged head-on into the European Jazz universe, which was revolutionizing the Jazz language by moving away from the restriction set by American Jazz and amalgamating previously untouched musical areas, which included, among others, the European Classical tradition and Folklore. Jarrett was amongst the first US Jazz musicians to discover the new universe and crossed over the Atlantic pond to take part in the "new thing" without hesitation. For this album Jarrett composed a set of brilliant composition, completely different from his work in the US, and these composition performed by the Scandinavian quartet emerged as one of the greatest moments of his career. The album is simply stunning, with beautifully melodic, contemplative and atmospheric music, which charms the listener immediately, basically transforming him into a new universe. The "Scandinavian sound" of this album was about to become a point of reference for future recordings and an integral part of the "ECM sound", forever associated with the label´s output. A work of pure genius, this is an essential and everlasting piece of heavenly music!

CD 1 Essential Recommend To A Friend