By the time Jasmine arrived on May 12, 2010, Keith Jarrett was so far past more-or-less simultaneous ’70s-era work with the so-called “American” and “European” bands that it was easy to forget this important phase of his career. The American band included a phenomenal line-up of Jarrett, saxophonist Dewey Redman, Bill Evans’ longtime drummer Paul Motian and Charlie Haden, the bass player from Ornette Coleman’s classic, revolutionary combo.
Jasmine wasn’t a complete reassembling of that band – only Haden and Jarrett appeared on it – but at this point, they hadn’t played together for more than 30 years. That provided us with a context to dissect how a world-class pianist communes with a world-class bassist, and vice versa.
Atypical for Keith Jarrett, Jasmine was recorded in the studio – Jarrett’s own small studio, actually. More typically for him, however, all of these tunes selected are time-honored covers. In choosing familiar songs, Jarrett once again invited listeners to focus on the interpretation of beautiful melodies, and not labor to determine what the melody is.
We’ve often attempted to describe the singular beauty of the late Charlie Haden’s bass lines, and I’ll try again here: Haden’s playing was always unfussy, stood out with a down-home woody tone and a produced a pulse as natural a human heartbeat. If you ever wondered how Coleman’s groundbreaking Atlantic Records era could come across with emotion in spite of lacking long-held conventions about rhythm and harmonics, hone in on Haden to find much of the answer.
When you combine him with a guy like Keith Jarrett, who shares his commitment to melody and making every note count, you can understand what Jasmine was all about. As Jarrett stated in the liner notes: “Charlie and I are obsessed with beauty. An ecstatic moment in music is worth the lifetime of mastery that goes into it, because it can be shared.”
Since this was recorded in a small studio, it sounded small. The absence of reverberation or echo left behind an intimate, dry sonic footprint that recalled Jarrett’s wonderful and under-appreciated 1999 solo covers album The Melody at Night, With You, likewise recorded at his home. But with Haden at his side this time, Jarrett played with just a little more vitality.
“For All We Know” revealed the approach for the entire program: Keith Jarrett played the song with little or no deviation from the composed melody, while Charlie Haden followed along, adding only the necessary notes and no more, before eventually getting his solo turn. Jarrett, on the other hand, comped with his left hand and often “sang” – that is, played vocal parts – with his right.
“No Moon At All” was an exception, as he unleashed opposing melodies with each hand, one of the reserved showings of Jarrett’s virtuosity. Another highlight was the mid-tempo swing of “I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life,” reminiscent of the romantic allure of Bill Evans’ inviting piano work. Haden’s solo on this number was clean, tonally precise and meandered logically between registers.
Some of the best-known standards, like “Body and Soul,” didn’t benefit quite as well from the “straight” treatment, because the familiarity is so strong it sometimes threatened to obscure the flawless and nuanced execution. But displays of masterful execution, as Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden drew out timeless harmonies with only two musical voices, was the point of this exercise.
From that vantage point alone, Jasmine was a reunion that needed to happen.
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