VINIL ECM Records Keith Jarrett / Dennis Russell Davies: Ritual

1977

Dennis Russell Davies - pian

Keith Jarrett and conductor-pianist Dennis Russell Davies have been friends and musical comrades for forty years. In the mid-70s the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, under Davies’ direction presented Jarrett’s chamber music. In the 90s Jarrett recorded the Mozart piano concertos with Davies and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Near the beginning of their association, Jarrett invited Davies to play a composition he had written for solo piano. To listen to Ritual is akin to experiencing the core of a Jarrett solo concert. The interpreter may be different, but the lyrical expression is remarkably consistent. As Dennis Russell l Davies says: “Those who know Keith will hear him in this music. It couldn’t have been written by anyone else.”



AllMusic: "Keith Jarrett does not actually play on this LP; rather, it is Dennis Russell Davies, a classical pianist and conductor with whom Jarrett collaborates frequently, who performs this 32-minute Jarrett composition on a grand piano.

Ritual has several of the characteristics of Jarrett's solo improvisations -- the repetitive vamps and ostinatos, wistful lyricism, ruminative episodes developing organically out of what preceded them -- but without the jazzy/bluesy feeling that runs through the solo concerts. Also, the piece begins in a mournful way unusual for the usually optimistic Jarrett. In any case, it is a thoughtful, absorbing composition, thoroughly tonal harmonically, played with assured technique and appropriate use of classical expressive devices by Davies. Classical listeners as well as Jarrett devotees will find much to savor here. "