Keith Jarrett Trio's Tokyo '96

The Keith Jarrett Trio is far from an esoteric back-room beatnik phenomenon. Rather, the group was founded by Jarrett in 1983 to take jazz away from cloistered intellectuals and bring it back to the people who created it. The "Standards" Trio (as it is often called) takes its name from the popular songs of the '20s, '30s, and '40s--standards. Each of their albums takes these deceptively simple ditties and reinvents them in myriad new ways.

Tokyo 1996 epitomizes this reinvention strategy. A palpable excitement fills the album and the trio's playing throughout. Each member's instrument becomes associated with a particular style as the album progresses: Peacock's bass takes on the blues, DeJohnette's drumming becomes hard bop, and Jarrett's piano slips gently into quiet, introspective ballads.

Highlights on the album include the dizzying Charlie Parker tune "Billie's Bounce," a fiery bop arrangement that evokes Jarrett's early Impulse days and the '60s and '70s Miles Davis Quintet. A slow glissando at the end of the track initiates a wintertime reverie of a Henry Warren and Al Dubin's "Summer Night," which ends with a high, improvised fugue as winter comes.

The tracks also include fantastic solos by both Peacock and DeJohnette. Before and after "John's Abbey" are standards that segue into Jarrett originals. The cheesy pseudo-Polynesian "Last Night When We Were Young" turns into the passionate one-chord vamp of Jarrett's "Caribbean Sky." The bittersweet "My Funny Valentine" becomes a solo piano "Song" that evokes the album's intro.

Throughout Tokyo 1996, Jarrett succeeds at being simple yet inventive, melodic yet challenging--all the while pushing the boundaries in a way that even a jazz novice can appreciate. On Tokyo '96 the Keith Jarrett Trio is, as always, anything but standard. (ECM)

--Robert Giampietro

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