Spirits (Keith Jarrett album)


Arguably one of his most misunderstood recordings, Spirits is a double album by Keith Jarrett on which he does not perform solo piano, jazz standards or the kind of music he is usually known for. Instead he performs vocals, guitar, glockenspiel, soprano saxophone, recorder, piano, tabla, flutes and percussion on multiple tracks that were recorded at his home studio in New Jersey. It was released by ECM Records in 1986 and Jarrett dedicated it to his wife Rose Ann Colavito.

Background and inception

According to Edward Strickland in his book "American Composers: Dialogues on Contemporary Music"

Original liner notes

On the double CD release Keith Jarrett himself writes extensive liner notes where he states that:

Reception

Among mixed enthusiasm after such a different output in Jarrett's previous production, the Rough Guide to Jazz states :
According to Tom Moon at NPR the album is "an experimental transfixing two-disc vision quest recorded between May and July 1985 by Jarrett alone in a studio in New Jersey".
While Allmusic review by non-jazz or "ethno" music specialist, The Tina Turner Story author Ron Wynn awarded the album 3 stars, calling it, "More a technical showcase than a musically worthy enterprise", other views have contested those claims as "incompetent".
In 2002, on occasion of the double CD "Rarum: Selected Recordings of Keith Jarrett" release a "Various All About Jazz staff members" review states that the tracks belonging to "Spirits, a totally flat overdubbed solo record from '85, stand as a terrible exception to Jarrett's usual freshness and verve."

Track listing

Spirits Vol. 1:
  1. "Spirits 1" - 5:07
  2. "Spirits 2" - 1:37
  3. "Spirits 3" - 8:04
  4. "Spirits 4" - 5:56
  5. "Spirits 5" - 4:10
  6. "Spirits 6" - 1:58
  7. "Spirits 7" - 7:09
  8. "Spirits 8" - 4:52
  9. "Spirits 9" - 5:12
  10. "Spirits 10" - 3:27
  11. "Spirits 11" - 2:36
  12. "Spirits 12" - 4:47
Spirits Vol. 2:
  1. "Spirits 13" - 5:09
  2. "Spirits 14" - 3:06
  3. "Spirits 15" - 2:26
  4. "Spirits 16" - 2:10
  5. "Spirits 17" - 2:57
  6. "Spirits 18" - 6:20
  7. "Spirits 19" - 4:50
  8. "Spirits 20" - 5:13
  9. "Spirits 21" - 4:21
  10. "Spirits 22" - 3:08
  11. "Spirits 23" - 4:04
  12. "Spirits 24" - 3:02
  13. "Spirits 25" - 2:18
  14. "Spirits 26" - 6:12

    Personnel