Keith Jarrett - Life Between the Exit Signs
Label: Rhino | Genre: Jazz | MP3 320 Kbps | 98 Mb | Original Release 1967
Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano), Charlie Haden (bass), Paul Motian (drums)
Life Between the Exit Signs finds a nascent Jarrett wearing some of his primary influences on his sleeve—Bill Evans, Paul Bley and Ornette Coleman most notably—but, even so, many of his defining qualities as a distinctive player are already in evidence.
Beginning an association with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian that was to last for nearly ten years, Jarrett demonstrates a penchant for overt lyricism on “Margot” and “Love No. 1,” a somehow distinctly American flavour on “Lisbon Stomp,” and free playing on the title track and “Love No. 2,” which follow the Ornette Coleman modus operandi of structured themes leading into completely open improvised sections. He even covers one standard, Cole Porter's “Everything I Love,” to show his love of the Great American Songbook, a characteristic that would, of course, be brought to greater fruition with his now twenty-year old Standards Trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette.
Haden, having already spent a good deal of time with Coleman, brings a strong sense of adventure coupled with a clear sense of history and tradition. Motian, at that time better known for his more subdued work with Bill Evans, gets the opportunity to play in a looser setting, displaying his abilities as textural player and colourist that would gain him a greater reputation in years to come.
