It must have been 1967 or 1968. Charles Lloyd's album Forest Flower: Live in Monterey was one of my favorites. I went to see Charles Lloyd at the HUB at the University of Washington. It was a large room with a stage at one end. No chairs. Everyone sat on the floor. I was about 10 feet from the stage. Details dim with age and other things. This was the 60s. Charles Lloyd was on saxophone and flute, Ron McClure on bass, Paul Motian on drums, and this crazy piano player that would crawl into the piano and ring little bells and pound on the strings - Keith Jarrett. Keith Jarrett was the highlight of the evening for me.

I listened to this album (vinyl) tonight for the first time in a long time. It's still good. The CD is actually two albums. The other is Soundtrack recorded in 1969. Forest Flower was recorded in 1966. I have both on vinyl.

Amazon has 118 Keith Jarrett CDs but not Somewhere Before which I also listened to tonight. It's from 1969 and had Charlie Haden on bass and Paul Motian on Drums. Early Jarrett but wonderful. I used to listen to it a lot.

A friend of a friend wanted to get rid of her vinyl and I took it off her hands. There are about 60 that I culled as keepers. One of them was what got me listening to Keith Jarrett tonight - The Köln Concert.

I had never heard the whole concert before. I had only heard bits of it. It was a huge hit when it came out in 1975. I just never got it. Probably something to do with having money and seeing the album at the same time. It was worth the wait. The records need a little cleaning which I will tend to soon. It's a two record set.

One of my all time favorites is an album Keith Jarrett did in 1976 Hymns/Spheres.

The Amazon review:

Hymns/Spheres, the original double LP from which the four pieces here are drawn, was perhaps too long and somewhat self-indulgent, and ultimately risked tedium. Yet the album contained some of the most transcendent music Keith Jarrett has recorded. In 1976, he came upon the mighty Trinity Organ, built by Karl Joseph Riepp (1710-1775) at the Benedictine Abbey in Ottobeuren, and proceeded to extend its already awesome capabilities by experimenting with partial openings of its stops. The result was an array of eerie tonalities with which he could accomplish a memorable contribution to the long tradition of organ improvisation. The opening section of the nine- part "Sphere" (four selections of which comprise this release) is a grand, piercing, and elevating summoning of shadowy recesses of the spirit, and of their liberation in devotion to whatever one's gods.
--Peter Monaghan

The CD is Spheres, which is, as the review notes, not the entire original which I'm listening to now. My vote is for the whole thing.

I'm glad my turntable is back in action!

Both Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd have recently released new critically acclaimed work. I've added a bunch of Keith Jarret to my wish list.

Keith Jarrett
KEITH JARRETT A Sketch of His Life and Work
Keith Jarrett - The Official Website
KEITH JARRETT: The Well-Tempered Jazz Band
KEITH JARRETT (b.1945)

NPR Jazz CD Review - Charles Lloyd The Water Is Wide
Charles Lloyd
Charles LLoyd