The Out-of-Towners (album)

The Out-of-Towners is a live album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on July 28, 2001 and released by ECM on August 30, 2004. Jarrett's trio—the Standards trio—features rhythm section Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette.[1]

The Out-of-Towners
Album cover art, performers' names and album title over fuzzy white background
Live album by
ReleasedAugust 30, 2004[1]
RecordedJuly 28, 2001
VenueBavarian State Opera
Munich, Germany
GenreJazz
Length68:07
LabelECM
ECM 1900
ProducerManfred Eicher
Keith Jarrett chronology
Up for It
(2003)
The Out-of-Towners
(2004)
Radiance
(2005)
Standards trio chronology
Up for It
(2003)
The Out-of-Towners
(2004)
My Foolish Heart
(2007)

Background

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The Out-of-Towners was recorded during the "Standards Trio" Summer 2001 European tour which had eight dates, mostly in France. An earlier date on the tour, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, produced the 2007 album My Foolish Heart.[2]

Summer 2001 tour
Date Venue City Notes
July 16, 2001 Pinède Gould Juan-les-Pins, France during the Jazz à Juan festival
July 18, 2001 Palais des congrès Paris, France
July 20, 2001 Perugia, Italy during the Umbria Jazz Festival
July 22, 2001 Stravinsky Hall, Montreux, Switzerland during the Montreux Jazz Festival; My Foolish Heart
July 26, 2001 Teatro Malibran Venice, Italy
July 28, 2001 Bavarian State Opera Munich, Germany
August 1, 2001 La Roque-d'Anthéron, France
August 3, 2001 Marciac, France

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
The Guardian     [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz    [5]
All About Jazz     [6]

In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "Being one of contemporary jazz's longest-running bands has its advantages; one of them is having nothing to prove. First and foremost, this band plays standards like no one else. Given their individual careers, the members playing in a trio that performs classics carries a kind of freedom, as well as weight. This material is treated not as museum-piece jazz, but as the essence of song... Besides the wondrous performance, the sound of this recording should be noted. Its warmth is immediate, its very close and intimate sound makes the listener feel as if she were in the middle of the stage taking this all in, not in the audience. This is an accomplishment on all fronts."[3]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz wrote: "There is some gloriously upbeat playing, like the blues structure of the title-track, and a stunning version of Mulligan's 'Five Brothers.' Indeed, an album which begins relatively slowly takes off with 'I Love You' before kicking into the superb sequence above." They praised Jarrett's encore, calling it "ballad-playing at its absolute finest and worthy of Bill Evans at his greatest."[5]

Writing for The Guardian, John Fordham commented: "There are six tunes here, prefaced by a solo improvised overture that sounds more like a standard than most standards do, before the pianist picks up the tempo with 'I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me', and Jack DeJohnette's cymbal beat snaps into life. Then the piece builds through Jarrett's characteristic alternation of spaces and cannily late-arriving bursts of notes. The same thing happens at a gentler tempo on 'You've Changed', also a feature for Gary Peacock's measured lyricism on bass. 'I Love You' is probably the standout conventional uptempo piece in the accelerating whirl of Jarrett's dancing phrasing against the racing engine of the other two.... But the fascinatingly preoccupied, almost abstract blues of the title track displays more layers and implications than any other—from the pianist's minimal, fragmentary blues figures to Peacock's free-associating rejoinders, and DeJohnette's lateral, pattering brushwork. There'd be an argument for saying the disc was worth it for that fascinating interlude alone."[4]

John Kelman, in a review for All About Jazz, stated: "While not a complete show, The Out-of-Towners still comes closest to capturing a complete concert experience by providing free playing along with standards, and even a solo piano piece ... Jarrett's trio has become one of the primary benchmarks for piano trio interplay, and it proves that, as Jarrett has said, 'it's not the material, it's what you bring to the material.' While some have bemoaned the fact that Jarrett appears to have left composition behind, the reality is that with an intuitive interaction that can only come from having played together for over twenty years, Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette raise the art of interpretation to a level that defies easy categorization. While they may, for the most part, choose to work existing standards, their playing is so fresh, so vital, that they make each piece sound like a new composition each time they play it."[6]

In an article for ECM blog Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo wrote: "Jarrett ... shines at every turn, but his phenomenal rhythm section has rarely sounded more luminescent. Light in their step and playful in their virtuosity, Jarrett's sidemen exude effortlessness."[7]

Track listing

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  1. "Intro / I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (Clarence Gaskill, McHugh) – 12:10
  2. "You've Changed" (Carey, Fischer) – 8:13
  3. "I Love You" (Porter) – 10:00
  4. "The Out-of-Towners" (Jarrett) – 19:45
  5. "Five Brothers" (Gerry Mulligan) – 11:12
  6. "It's All in the Game" (Dawes, Sigman) – 6:47

Personnel

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Musicians

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Technical personnel

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  • Manfred Eicher – producer
  • Martin Pearson – recording engineer
  • Morten Lund – mastering
  • Sascha Kleis – design
  • Thomas Wunsch – cover photography
  • Wilfried Hösl – liner photography
  • Roberto Masotti – trio photography

Charts

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Chart (2004) Peak
position
US Billboard Top Jazz Albums 9

Notes

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  1. ^ a b ECM Records Jarrett / Peacock / DeJohnette: The Out-of-Towners, accessed May 2020
  2. ^ Keith Jarrett 2001 live concerts accessed May 18, 2020
  3. ^ a b Jurek, Thom. "Review: The Out-of-Towners". Allmusic. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  4. ^ a b Fordham, John (2004-09-03). "Review: Keith Jarrett, The Out of Towners". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  5. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 771. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. ^ a b Kelman, John (2004-09-02). "Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette: The Out-Of-Towners". All About Jazz. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  7. ^ Grillo, Tyran (November 21, 2013). "Keith Jarrett Trio: The Out-of-Towners (ECM 1900)". Between Sound and Space. Retrieved March 22, 2021.