No End

Keith Jarrett

EN / DE

Recorded at his home studio in 1986, “No End” illuminates hitherto undocumented aspects of Keith Jarrett’s music. He is heard here on electric guitars, electric bass, drums and percussion, overdubbing tribal dances of his own devising: “Somehow something happened during these days in the 80s that won’t ever be repeated,” he writes in his liner notes. “There was really, to my knowledge, no forethought or composition – in the typical sense – going on; just a feeling or a rhythmic idea or a bass line concept or melody. None of this was written down.” On the instrumentation: “Drums were always with me in some way,” Jarrett reflects. “I have always been drawn to instruments that you touch directly, without a mechanism in between. Therefore, I cannot say that I have ever loved the piano as much as the drums or guitar.” With, primarily, these instruments (piano this time has only a cameo role) Jarrett has shaped one of his most unusual albums.

Aufgenommen 1986 in seinem Heimstudio, offenbart “No End” bisher undokumentierte Aspekte in Keith Jarretts Musik. Er ist hier an elektrischen Gitarren, elektrischem Bass, Schlagzeug und Perkussion zu hören, wie er Overdubs über eigene Improvisationen spielt: „Irgendwie passierte in diesen Tagen während der 80er Jahre etwas, das sich nie wiederholen wird“, schreibt er in seinen Liner Notes. „Es gab, soweit ich mich erinnere, keinerlei Vorüberlegungen oder Kompositionen im herkömmlichen Sinn – nur ein Gefühl oder reine rhythmische Idee oder ein Konzept für eine Basslinie oder Melodie. Nichts davon war niedergeschrieben.“ Über die Instrumentierung: „Schlagzeug war immer irgendwie mit mir“, reflektiert Jarrett. „Ich habe mich immer von Instrumenten angezogen gefühlt, die man direkt berührt, ohne einen zwischengelagerten Mechanismus. Von daher kann ich nicht von mir sagen, das Piano jemals so geliebt zu haben wie Schlagzeug oder Gitarre.“ Hauptsächlich mit diesen Instrumenten (das Piano hat diesmal nur eine Art Cameo-Rolle) hat Jarrett eines seiner ungewöhnlichsten Alben gestaltet.
Featured Artists Recorded

1986, Cavelight Studio, New Jersey

Original Release Date

15.11.2013

  • CD 1
  • 1No End I
    (Keith Jarrett)
    07:22
  • 2No End II
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:37
  • 3No End III
    (Keith Jarrett)
    05:39
  • 4No End IV
    (Keith Jarrett)
    05:25
  • 5No End V
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:39
  • 6No End VI
    (Keith Jarrett)
    05:36
  • 7No End VII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    04:06
  • 8No End VIII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:57
  • 9No End IX
    (Keith Jarrett)
    04:47
  • 10No End X
    (Keith Jarrett)
    02:33
  • CD 2
  • 1No End XI
    (Keith Jarrett)
    04:05
  • 2No End XII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    06:14
  • 3No End XIII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:48
  • 4No End XIV
    (Keith Jarrett)
    04:55
  • 5No End XV
    (Keith Jarrett)
    04:28
  • 6No End XVI
    (Keith Jarrett)
    02:46
  • 7No End XVII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:40
  • 8No End XVIII
    (Keith Jarrett)
    05:48
  • 9No End XIX
    (Keith Jarrett)
    07:12
  • 10No End XX
    (Keith Jarrett)
    03:04
Keith Jarrett ne se sera rien refusé. ‘No End’, ces vingt pièces enregistrées la nuit dans son studio, seul, sans titres, ont le sens de cette liberté illimitée. Mélange de naiveté et de folie douce. Si l’on admet que l’instrumentiste Jarrett, le compositeur, le sideman, est un partenaire essentiel de ces cinquante dernières années. ‘No End’ laisse pantois. Ici ou là, fait rire. [...] Dans un coin, petite table de mixage et un poil de réverbe pour brider le son. Nul projet d’oeuvre ou de composition. La joie de jouer la batterie, de sentir les instruments (batterie, guitare). Amour des fusées de guitare électrique. [...] Keith Jarrett, n’ajoute rien, ne se disqualifie en rien. Le résultat? Gracieux, enfantin, la musique du possible, l’ouverture au monde. La réponse la plus simple aux exigences d’un marché anxieux (celui du disque), aux errances d’une esthétique paumée, aux diktats et au bon goût. Exquis.
Francis Marmande, Le Monde
 
Ehkä No End kertookin tekijästään enemmän kuin kymmenes erinomainen pianosoololevy tai triolevy ja avaa samalla oven ‘aikaan joka ei palaa’.
(Perhaps No End tells us much more about Jarrett than any tenth piano solo or trio record could ever do. At the same time it opens the listener a door ‘to a time that no longer exists’.)  
Harri Uusitorppa, Helsingin Sangomat
 
The whole album is a work of rhythm and melodic rhyme. It springs from a love of instruments that require no intermediary--such as the hammers of a piano--to generate the sound. In a very visceral way, Jarrett has shortened the distance between the composing heart and the expectant ear.
Travis Rogers, Jazz Times
 
Jarrett can’t seem to help being intuitively musical through any axe he wields, and ‘No End’ is a satisfying contradiction in terms; a tour de force of serious woodshedding. More important, it’s fun. I had to keep reminding myself that I was listening not to a good funk band, but to one guy serially jamming with his overdubbeld selves – the sense of multiple musicians listening to and playing with each other is palpable. And of the dozens of albums Jarrett has released, ‘No End’ is the only one that’s a bona fide ‘driving’ album. I play it while tooling around town. It makes me smile.
Richard Lehnert
“The Studio: Cables and cords everywhere. A drum set in the corner. Tablas and percussion, instruments of all kinds strewn around the room. A beautiful deep red Gibson solid-body on a vertical stand alongside a blond wood classic Fender bass in its stand, both in front of the same blond wood chair which was directly opposite the drums. The tablas were on my American Steinway. Microphone stands were in front of the guitars, holding (to the best of my knowledge) a Neumann stereo microphone, and I believe another identical microphone was on a boom over the tablas. All the other percussion was played using the room as the guide as to where to stand or how loud to play, though I had to do many tests to achieve some intuition about this. My studio is very small, so I didn't move the drum set at all, or the microphone while playing the drums.

In the control room were two Tandberg cassette recorders which were used exclusively for this project; so I would record something first, then overdub, using headphones as a guide to the volume or position I needed to use, then overdub (with headphones, always) again, each time transforming the new information to the ‘other’ machine. Then I would put the newly recorded tape in the first machine, start them both, and run into the studio to overdub or start the next piece. Not a single machine breakdown occurred despite the fact that no one was in the control room monitoring anything.

There was really, to my knowledge, no forethought or ‘composition’ (in the typical sense) going on; just a feeling or a rhythmic idea or a bass line concept or melody. But none of this was written down. Beginnings and endings were either hit-or-miss or just plain astoundingly intuitive.

I used a small mixing board and a little reverb to send the sound out to the headphones and simultaneously onto tape. I honestly can't remember a hell of a lot about the details, but somehow something happened during these days in the 80's that won't ever be repeated. I had wanted to record on drums most of my life, and when I got the tape out recently, I thought I'd better run with it.

(....) Drums were always with me in some way. (...) I have always been drawn to instruments that you touch directly, without a mechanism in between. Therefore, I cannot say I have ever loved the piano as much as the drums or the guitar. And, though I have a reputation for being in the acoustic world, I have always loved electric guitar.”