This is the Keith Jarrett Trio's -- featuring bassist
Gary Peacock and drummer
Jack DeJohnette -- elegy for their former employer
Miles Davis, recorded only 13 days after the maestro's death. The lonely figure in shadow with a horn on the cover contrasts with the joyous spirit of many of the tracks on this CD, yet there is still a ghostly presence to deal with -- and in keeping with
Miles' credo,
Jarrett's choice of notes is often more purposefully spare than usual. There is symmetry in the organization of the album, with "Bye Bye Blackbird" opening and the trio's equally jaunty "Blackbird, Bye Bye" closing the album, and the interior tracks immediately following the former and preceding the latter are "You Won't Forget Me" and "I Thought About You." The centerpiece of the CD is an 18-and-a-half-minute group improvisation, "For Miles," which after some
DeJohnette tumbling around becomes a dirge sometimes reminiscent of
Miles' own elegy for
Duke Ellington, "He Loved Him Madly." As an immediate response to a traumatic event,
Jarrett and his colleagues strike the right emotional balance to create one of their more meaningful albums. ~ Richard S. Ginell