Customer Rating:  
Summary: Recording ruined by interminable applause
Comment: I've never understood why record producers think we want to hear minutes of applause in live recordings. This recording takes this to an absurd level at times, so that we are not only subjected to the irritation of seemingly interminable applause after a piece, but following the much-hoped-for silence preceding the next piece we get... more applause, then silence, then a bit more applause. For me it makes for an unpleasant listening experience, one I don't like to repeat often. If you like long sections of applause, though, you'll want to play it over and over.
Customer Rating:
Summary: poser
Comment: On this album Jarrett thinks he's being avant-garde by aping music that hasn't been avant-garde in 40 years. Much of the music on this disc is nothing less than a sonic rip off of what Boulez and Berio were doing in the 60s, but without any of the highly developed and extremely sophisticated structural and developmental elements that make that music great. He doesn't even understand what he's quite lamely attempting to emulate. It's ersatz and quite embarrassing really, especially for someone of Jarrett's supposed musical sophistication.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Tears
Comment: I have seen Keith live many times, and every time it is like a sacred pilgrimage. This is a brilliantly produced album, and I had tears rolling down my eyes with the first notes of the encores.
Every 50 or 100 years or so a musical giant brings music back to the rest of humanity. Keith is that giant, and brings blessings every time he reaches for the keys.
Customer Rating:
Summary: So Great to Hear Mr Jarrett Again!
Comment: I've been listening to Keith Jarrett's music since the late 70s. He never fails to touch my heart. All those LPs I once bought on vinyl were eventually replaced on CD format - they are so nice without turntable rumble and static pops. Now I listen on my iPod too... Such lovely stuff.
SO - about those comments regarding applause. Here's one solution IF you are going to make mp3 files from these songs for your iPod.
You can trim the ends off (either end) of songs when you import them w/ iTunes. Here's how: Listen to the track once thru to identify the time when the last note occurs. Click the Reset button to put the "playhead" back to the start of the song. With that song selected in the iTunes pane (highlighted in blue, probably) Type "Command I" to open the "Song Info" dialog box, once there, select the 5th tabbed pane "Options" and look down to the box labeled "Stop Time" - check that button and enter time you want the mp3 recording to end. If you were attentive you can catch that second before that last note fades and the first applause begins. You can enter time values as small as tenths of seconds.
Enjoy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Same old Keith: Still a genius I just don't appreciate...
Comment: I will start by saying, as much as I like jazz piano and fancy myself becoming a "genuine" jazz pianist someday, I've just never quite understood KJ. Maybe he's too good for me, maybe his early stuff is too unapproachable and as such, I never "get" his later stuff. Or maybe it's something else, I don't know. And actually, I thought this recording was pretty good, as far as it goes. The sound is good, the music is challenging but interesting and vaguely compelling. I mean, I get the feeling it is worth pursuing its meaning, I just never quite "arrive" there. Unlike a number of other reviewers, I don't have much of a problem with the extended clapping (just push the "next" button on your iPod, CD player, computer), but as always, I wish the sound staff would mike the piano so that you can't hear KJ, or better yet, just get KJ to play and shut the heck up! Nonetheless, in what must surely seem a rather lukewarm review, I think this is a pretty decent piece of work, and I recommend it to piano (I hesitate to limit it to "jazz piano") enthusiasts and definitely to any Jarrett fans (but you've probably bought it already).
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