Keith Jarrett Quartet - Nude Ants

Four Out of Six Ain't Bad

This release contains four very, very good songs that should be heard if you have an interest in jazz that relies heavily on the blues. "Chant of the Soil" is very bleak, suave and wary of its surroundings, like one of the big cats marking its territory. All four of the good songs ("Chant...", "Innocence," "New Dance," and "Sunshine Song" have similar formats. Garbarek's horn is absent in the intro and Jarrett plays off of the bass and drums with arrangements that serve both as intros and improvisations. This approach is very good because it eases you into the song and breaks down the standard jazz format. It's more of a blues format actually, where the instrumental intro leads into the vocals, in this case Garbarek's saxophone, which performs both vocals and instrumental improvisations. In all four songs, Garbarek gets carried away in his improv, with altissimo extensions that suddenly come soaring down into the lower registers and then back up into the altissimo range.

All four of the musicians come ready to play and the four compositions mentioned offer plenty of room for them to do so. In "Innocence," Jarrett's right hand offers the steadiness of the Godhead and his left hand fumbles around beautifully for the chords that make up this song's exquisite structure. The left (human) hand gains confidence from its discourse with the right hand and, by the time Garbarek's improv comes around, Jarrett has set up a foundation from which the shaky human spirit can be propelled into the realm of the immortals. Even with Jarrett's virtuoso keyboard skills, this propulsion cannot be achieved via the piano because it is by definition a percussion instrument. Only a wind instrument can perform a comprehensive purge because only a wind instrument can empty itself completely of all of the sounds it is capable of making, with seamless fluidity, in very short order. Garbarek does this flawlessly and his sheets of sound are incredibly well-executed. With our human needs temporarily met (transcended?), we become absorbed in the Godhead and share in its innocence.

On "Sunshine Song," Garbarek does with the tenor what he does with the soprano on "Innocence." His performance on "Sunshine Song" defines a summit beyond which there simply is nowhere to go. (There is a high note even Garbarek can't go beyond and we are reminded that the human infinitude is the one that achieves great significance from the fact that it occurs within stern limits. If we could live forever, life would lose 99% of its significance.)

"New Dance" rolls along like a speed boat and you emerge drenched and happy.

"Procession" and "Oasis" do not impress me, with the caveat that "Oasis" has a beautiful core melody, which is not developed well. It has a stutter-step clumsiness to it that is charming, but the quartet tries to move forward into the elaboration without the alterations necessary for movement. Garbarek finally gets nutty and blows the roof off with some soprano sheets of sound and this nudges Jarrett briefly into a groove that works. But then it's back the monolithical straight jacket, in which none of the musicians can move correctly. Jarrett's weak ending to the song shows how lost even a great improvisationist can get when all of the white keys suddenly look the same. At least Keith is having a great time.

"Solstice" on the "Belonging" release achieves what "Processional" and "Oasis" fail to do. It is also a funeral march of sorts, but the format is so refined that the elaboration simply cannot get cluttered and sloppy. It is during the dark night of the soul that conversion takes place and "Solstice" provides some beautiful night bloomers. And, for all of its diversities, it never leaves the groove, one that, at the end of the song, has Jarrett swirling at the top of his harp, Garbarek fluttering about near the bottom of his tenor and Christensen performing magic with his cymballs.

Needless to say, I like "Belonging" too. February 8, 2007

Sexy Ants

There is lot of good energy and beautiful music on this double live album, including the 30 minutes "Oasis". Recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York in 1979. Jarrett is accompanied by his European Quartet; Jan Garbarek on Soprano and Tenor, Palle Daniellsson on Bass and Jon Christensen on Drums. Jarrett dominates most of the music, but Garbarek's unique floating tone and the subtle accompaniment of the rest of the band is sure noteworthy.

A live album very much worth buying; Highly recommended for all Jarrett's fan; however if you are new to KJ's music, start with "The Koln Concert" instead.
Another well recommended studio album For Jarrett with his European Quartet would surely be "My Song".
January 9, 2007

"Oasis" what can I say?

I'll be brief. This performance at the Vanguard is incredible! I just want to say that the piece "Oasis" in many ways changed my life when I first listened to it in 1979. There is so much force and energy from Jarrett and troupe. It is indeed spiritual and exhausting. Bravo.............. March 2, 2005

Amazing Live Album

"Nude Ants" is a true classic in Keith Jarrett's prolific live recordings. With his "European" Quartet, Jarrett released some very fine albums("belonging," "personal mountains"), one brilliant record("my song")before moving onto a Standards trio, more solo improv, and classical work in the 80's. But this 1979 album, recorded live at the Village Vanguard, is truly a live masterpiece. Jarrett contributes the 6 wonderful, and sometimes far-out compositions, which spring the band's amazing interplay into uncharted(but highly listenable)territories. Jan Garbarek is capable of a unique, beautiful tone or an angry snarl on Saxophone, while drummer Jon Christanson and bassist Palle Danielsson keep things funky and interesting. Jarrett is in superhuman form here, playing wild gospel, dark middle eastern, or bill evans esque chord voicings(in his own original style of course). Be warned:Keith was in a good mood-meaning there's alot of moaning, groaning, screeching and sighs here. It's not hard to ignore, and it actually proves the astounding energy of some of the tracks. "Chant of the Soil" is a menacing funk, with some great solos from Garbarek and Jarrett, and a wonderful percussion and drum duet between Christanson and(i believe) Jarrett towards the end. The energy on this one is infectious. "Innocence" is beautiful, Debussy like ballad, which shifts moods brilliantly. "Processional" is Jarrett's acoustic jazz version of Miles Davis' "He Loved Him Madly." Dark, and gloomy, this track is a group-improvisational triumph, with many different sections and interludes. Disc 2's opener "Oasis" continues the lenghy, slightly dark interplay of "Processional" this time with the music of the Middle East for inspiration. This is maybe the most complex and strange track on the album. "New Dance" is a joyful sophistacated jam, and a highlight of the album. It's also the title track if you think about it..."Sunshine Song" is homerun number 6 as compositions go on this album. Beautiful and haunting, is it a fitting closer for a somewhat dark live album. Overall "Nude Ants" isn't the place to start if you want to hear Jarrett's "European" quartet, but it is a funky, funky live album. February 10, 2002

keith reaches the depths of inner emotion again

john christinsan is at his best, he plays more of the drum than in any of his other recordings with keith and his european quartet. tracks innocence & oasis from the personal mountains album are taken to new depths and brilliant heights October 1, 1999

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