Keith Jarrett ★★★★★ Sun Bear Concerts ECM. LP

Jazz pianist’s landmark box set revived.

Putting out an album containing six-and-ahalf hours of improvised solo piano music at a time when the phonographic industry was facing a recession seemed like an insane extravagance in 1978 when ECM released Sun Bear

Concerts, a 10-LP box set of five complete Keith Jarrett concerts recorded in Japan. But unlike most record companies, ECM valued artistic accomplishment over profit margins, and their unwavering commitment to Jarrett enabled one of his greatest triumphs. Over 40 years on, the performances are still spellbinding. Jarrett’s lengthy but always engagingly melodic extemporisations range from gentle nostalgic reveries to impassioned rhapsodies and uplifting hymnals, all delivered in the limpid, lyrical style that became his trademark. Given its size, Sun

Bear Concerts understandably never reached the 4 million sales of Jarrett’s iconic 1975 live album The Köln Concert, but it nevertheless represents the absolute pinnacle of his famed solo recitals.

Charles Waring