After Bremen/Lausanne, after The K�ln Concert, after the epic Sun Bear Concerts, the next development in Jarrett's solo concerts was the all-embracing music captured here. This three disc set could be said to be a culmination of the first wave of Jarrett's solo music. Two improvised concerts from Austria and Germany are featured, recorded respectively at the Festspielhaus Bregenz (on 28 May, 1981) and the Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich (on 2 June, 1981), venues noted for outstanding acoustics.
While the Bregenz concert has previously been available as a single CD, and while Jarrett himself included an excerpt from the Munich show in a selection of personal favourites chosen for his :rarum anthology in 2002, this reissue marks the first appearance of the complete Munich performance on compact disc. The 3-CD set includes an extensive text booklet with liner notes by Keith Jarrett, an essay by Swiss critic Peter R�edi, and poetry by Michael Kr�ger.
Jarrett's biographer, the late Ian Carr commented: The Bregenz/Munich concerts were Jarrett's most brilliant live solo recordings to date; his level of inspiration is quite extraordinary, and the music covers a wider musical and emotional range than ever. He takes fabulous risks, pushing everything to the limit.
When these recordings were first released on LP in the early 80s, The Guardian said: This latest chapter of his prodigious output brings the Afro-American and European improvising traditions together, without effort and with complete conviction. It's a remarkable tour-de-force which moves through the blues, Erik Satie, stride expressionism, bop and baroque.
The CD reissue of Concerts: Bregenz/M�nchen is released simultaneously with another but very different Jarrett album, No End on which the pianist forsakes his usual instrument for electric guitar and percussion.
Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano)
