David Dalle
Thursday September 14th, 2023 with David Dalle
Keith Jarrett, Torino, October 28, 1996; Libya and Morocco.

Over four nights in one week in October 1996, Keith Jarrett performed solo concerts in four cities in Italy, Modena, Ferrara, Torino, and Genova. They were not released by ECM until 20 years later in 2016. Keith Jarret wrote the notes, and was also the producer and engineer for these recordings. They were recorded with two transformer-less mics connected directly to a Sonosax DAT machine with no mixing board in between. This produced a very natural sound, accurately portraying the actual sound and as Jarrett writes "every note I played is on these CDs." He was suffering from undiagnosed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the time, and these would be the last four long-form improvised concerts he ever performed. He did not touch a piano for two years afterwards, and did not return to performing until 2000, and not solo until 2002 when he introduced his new and permanent format of shorter improvised pieces. Writing in 2016, he claims these four concerts were the pinnacle of his career. He writes: "Fate has played an enormous part in the result, whether it was being struck by an unknown (at the time) disease, or having smaller, more playable rooms for each concert (mostly opera houses), or doing the concerts before the major advent of the 'information' age, or having consistently good pianos, or no photography, or quieter audiences, or playing for my life instead of telling my students to play 'as though' it's the last time (I felt it was the last time), or any number of factors I just can't keep in my head at the same time." Fascinating, as it is partly thanks to Keith Jarrett being the engineer and producer that these performances exist at all. He writes that, as he was sick and nauseous, he almost failed to walk on stage to perform, "but what would an engineer and producer do without something to record?" I played the first two concerts shortly after getting the album in late 2016 and I did promise to feature all four. They are supreme works of art from one artist, and, like the very best of vintage, only improve with age. This concert is like an extended supplication, at times in a Gospel prayer meeting or at a Sufi ritual, and at others a solitary mystic alone in a desert. Wonderful.