AFTER THE FALL
(ECM)
8.5/10
Before you get too excited, no, pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette have not reunited. This double album is just another glittering gem from deep in the ECM vaults, released just on 20 years after it was recorded live. In fact this was the first concert that Jarrett gave in the wake of his two-year lay-off due to chronic fatigue syndrome. It was preceded by some trial rehearsals – the first and last in the acclaimed trio’s history! – at his home to see if he was up to it.
Even so, Jarrett did not know for sure that he would not collapse mid-gig, and therefore settled on what he considered to be a safe repertoire. I defy anyone to pick that this was a pianist and band that had not performed for two years. If anything the sense of risk that must have been suspended in the air seems to have created its own sparks, not to mention the threesome’s sheer joy and abandon of doing it again. Highlights include a tender Old Folks that unrolls like a bolt of silk, a super-groovy Doxy, and an Autumn Leaves that they stretch into something distinctly and thrillingly omni-seasonal.