Keith Jarrett – Staircase

Very strange sounding recording with way too much reverb ...

Another masterpiece by Keith! Worth to have it at home ;) Copy this if you really love Keith's pianno...

A quiet, clean copy is necessary to fully enjoy this music. Recorded sound is outstanding. Piano tone is full and rich. Jarrett's touch is non-percussive, a "piano without hammers", as Debussy once said. Coming to this artist for the first time, I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. Unfortunately, my copy has a lot of crackle and I guess I will have to upgrade when I can. I wonder if someone will do an audiophile-grade reissue of this album?

From '76, here is an ECM studio recording of four solo piano pieces from Keith Jarrett, divided into 3(or 2) sections each. He incorporates a familiar motivic development approach, in which he introduces a theme and then works to explore it further within the performance. He ranges from a gentle light touch, to some fiery rumbling bass themes that brew slowly toward resolution.

I found "Hourglass" and "Sundial" to be the most enjoyable to experience, and my favorites on the record.

The piano is beautifully close-miked and sounds natural with good dynamics. If you listen carefully, you may hear some vocalizations(yowling) bleeding through the soundboard mic, his trademark.

3.5 stars.

Arguably one of his best solo records, love the production on this. Still a bit too meandering on several parts but I fondly like this outing from Jarrett.

People have said that 'Staircase' is the opposite to the Koln Concert. It was recorded in a studio with a good sounding piano and the pieces are shorter. The music may go too far with a double album but there are some excellent moments here and it's very enjoyable for that.