Keith Jarrett - Paris / London - Testament

Released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of ECM, these solo concerts from the great American pianist are recordings to put alongside the very finest in Keith Jarrett's solo idiom. Recorded in 2008, they are released as a specially priced 3-CD set.

At the end of 2008, Keith Jarrett added two concerts to his schedule at short notice - one at Paris's Salle Pleyel (November 26), one at London's Royal Festival Hall (December 1). The results were outstanding, even by Jarrett's own high standards, with powerful emotions never far from the music's surface. The open format, embracing much music in shorter episodes, makes the work in the tradition of Radiance, but there are also flashes of the existential poetic flair which made for instance the Sun Bear Concerts a special musical experience. In his liner notes, Jarrett gives a highly personal account of the music's inspirational genesis. The English date was Jarrett's first London solo concert for 18 years and, to quote one reviewer, triggered the sort of ecstasy that might greet a returning prophet.

Solo recordings have accounted for some of Keith Jarrett's best-loved discs - from 'Facing You' to 'Vienna Concert', 'La Scala', 'The Carnegie Hall Concert' and more. 'The K�ln Concert', of course, was to become one of the best-selling 'jazz' albums of all time, as well as the best-selling solo piano album in any genre, an album whose popularity has never waned. Now 'Testament' further documents the exceptional nature of Jarrett's solo music in the 21st century.

Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano)