If this schizophrenic double-disc set didn't throw
Keith Jarrett's most devoted fans for a loop, nothing ever will. Here we have two radically disparate works involving different timbres, attacks, and mindsets, both within themselves and with each other. On "Invocations," a seven-movement suite,
Jarrett returns to the massive pipe organ in Ottobeuren, Germany for a series of sometimes wildly contrasting episodes, ranging from peaceful contemplation to a fourth movement (subtitled "Shock, Scatter") that borders on the comical (people tend to forget that for all of his pretensions,
Jarrett does have a sense of humor). Entranced by the abbey's long, long decay time, he brackets the organ movements with some solo meditations on the soprano sax which, pardon the witticism, echo those of
Paul Horn. "The Moth and the Flame" finds
Jarrett back in a studio with a grand piano, improvising musical still-lifes, rambling aimlessly, or doing his rollicking E-flat ostinato thing familiar from the solo concerts. About all that these two pieces share, with the exception of the E-flat movement from "Moth," is an aversion to a jazz pulse, so although there are plenty of rewarding passages here, casual
Jarrett browsers are hereby warned. ~ Richard S. Ginell