Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet

Keith Jarrett did actually have a life before his abundant solo projects and brilliant trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis, to name but a few. During this period of his life, he was deeply immersed in electric keyboards and influenced by a diverse array of musical styles. Despite such musical richness, these years are largely overshadowed by the attention given to his solo and trio albums over the years. At the heart of this first life were works produced with his American Quartet. The time spent with the group between 1971 and 1976 was a turning point in the Allentown pianist’s career. Jarrett’s quartet was among the most original and influential of the ‘70s jazz scene.

Looking at the huge list of young talent that learned from Miles Davis (Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, McCoy Tyner, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Joe Zawinul…), it is fascinating to see the paths they trod at the dawn of this turbulent decade. After Coltrane’s death in 1967, free and electric jazz emerged. Some threw themselves, body and soul, into jazz rock, cerebral jazz or even funky jazz. Some remained attached to the hard bop tradition… With his American Quartet composed of double bass player Charlie Haden, drummer Paul Motian and saxophonist Dewey Redman, Keith Jarrett tried a bit of everything to find his calling. The level of variety meant that during the seven years of its existence the group would record a dozen albums on four different labels. Post bop, free, fusion, world, spiritual music, Jarrett and his accomplices had ideas in all these directions at one point or another. Before anything else the group was the union of four strong musical personalities. With his Liberation Music Orchestra founded in 1969 with Carla Bley, Charlie Haden embraced the militant and libertarian tradition started by Mingus. Paul Motian, who emerged with Bill Evans’ legendary trio, was a virtuoso able to play everything. As for Redman, the craziest of the four, he has blown almost every wind instrument possible...

Another name that holds a major place in the quartet’s DNA: Ornette Coleman. The saxophonist even has a piece dedicated to him, " Piece for Ornette " on the album El Juicio (The Judgement). Haden and Redman were two key components in the quartet but it seems they were hard to handle. “I was like the road manager, and I was driving these guys around,” said Keith Jarrett in an interview with Ethan Iverson in 2009. “Charlie was high all the time, and Dewey was drunk all the time, Paul was sober enough… If I hadn’t had Paul as an ally, I’d probably be in a mental institution. Ornette was backstage once, and he came up to me and he said: ‘How have you kept Charlie and Dewey in your band this long?’ He’d got to know them well and also knew that everywhere we landed Charlie was gonna look for a hospital and Dewey was gonna look for a bar.” This everyday chaos was also a creative chaos, in a positive sense. The disparity of the recorded material proves Jarrett’s rapidly changing idea flow. He was barely 25 years old and was constantly writing. As if all of this wasn’t enough, Jarrett would go on to incorporate percussionists such as Danny Johnson, Guilherme Franco and Airto Moreira and even guitarist Sam Brown into the quartet. He would even amuse himself sometimes by taking out the instrument on which he learnt to play: the saxophone!

The American Quartet released two albums for Atlantic (Birth in 1971 and El Juicio (The Judgement) recorded in 1971 but released in 1975), one for Columbia (Expectations in 1972), eight for Impulse! (Fort Yawuh in 1973, Treasure Island and Back Hand in 1974, Death and the Flower in 1975, Mysteries and Shades in 1976, Byablue and Bop-Be in 1977) and two for ECM (The Survivors’ Suite in 1977 and Eyes of the Heart recorded live in 1976 and released in 1979). The band’s rhythmic power was often at the heart of most of these recordings (notably on Impulse!), not surprising when you consider the frequent presence of guest percussionists. To add to the madness, Jarrett took full advantage of his jam-packed studio sessions which sometimes produced several albums. The group’s flow was stylistically powerful but what was perhaps most striking was their 360° vision. On Expectations, the free flowing " Roussillion " meets the Latin jazz of " Common Mama. " With " Kuum, " from the album Back Hand, the flute and percussion are more reminiscent of world music than jazz. As for " De Drums, " it deploys a classic swing in the middle of Fort Yawuh, an album that is restless, libertarian and strongly influenced by Ornette…

The album you would likely find at the top of the quartet’s discography would be The Survivors’ Suite, recorded in April 1976 and released the next year by ECM. This was the twilight of the American Quartet, in a way… Split into two long sections, Beginning and Conclusion, it is a multi-coloured record which evolves throughout. We don’t know what’s free (jazz) and what’s not. We don’t know if it comes from the west or the east. The four men, who never hesitated to step into the unknown (Jarrett plays a bit of sax, drums and celesta, Redman a bit of percussion) build an atmosphere that is often dark and stern, yet from which fly dazzling sparks of brightness and purity. Paul Motian’s drums reach the summit of musical inventiveness, Dewey Redman alternates between almost-tribal breathing and smooth whispering, while Jarrett makes any and every possible sound with his piano without ever looking like a show-off. Survivors’ Suite is magical in its ambivalence and its ability to go with complete ease from the wildest storm to the most calming slack water. A good example of this is the hiatus at 4’50 on the second disc. The pianist seems to open his soul in a simple but majestic melody.

It’s pointless going through the complete compositions and improvisations from these seven years as Keith Jarrett, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian never stop narrating, conversing and heckling. Jarrett’s writing addiction at the time goes even further than pieces for the American Quartet, he also put together some solo albums (Facing You, his first for ECM), a contemporary music album (In the Light in 1973 with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra) and started a European Quartet with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen with the album Belonging recorded in Oslo in April, 1974. Another adventure, apparently quieter and less spontaneous than the American one, but just as fascinating…