The key of Keith

CD Choice: Jazz

KEITH JARRETT My Foolish Heart ECM *****

In his liner notes for this double- CD set, Jarrett writes of it as something close to a definitive statement by his Standards trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette.

Certainly, it's up there with the best they have ever recorded, filled with a palpable, almost aggressive sense of joy in making music. Much of its edge comes from the way the pianist chose to deal with what he claimed was a recalcitrant audience; he set about gripping them warmly by the throat, musically speaking.

It's clear from the opening, uptempo Four, and the title track, a wonderfully expressive performance with its oblique piano introduction, superbly managed tempo shifts, soulful bass and ecstatic piano solos, that he and the trio were not taking prisoners.

In much the same, almost transcendant manner Oleo, What's New (perhaps Peacock's finest solo of the evening) and The Song Is You are brilliantly mined, before they throw in a huge surprise; stride versions of Ain't Misbehavin', Honeysuckle Rose and You Took Advantage of Me.

Jarrett has played stride before, and though they pull off the stylistic jump, it's still a major change - Straight, No Chaser, next, pushes the envelope in the other direction. A beautiful I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, which offers an unexpected, gorgeous, lengthy piano coda when it seemed the performance was over, and an uptempo On Green Dolphin Street, had the once-reluctant audience baying for more.

And he duly supplied them with an Only the Lonely which had an appropriately end-of-evening feel. Although this was recorded six years ago at the Montreux Jazz Festival, curiously, the trio's 2004 live album, The Out-of-Towners, was made a week before in Munich (and contains another version of Gerry Mulligan's swinging Five Brothers, almost twice as long as the Montreux take), while their 2003 release, Up for It, was made a year later at Juan-les-Pins.

Comparisons between My Foolish Heart and these, or with the stunning Whisper Not, a live double from Paris in 1999, show an amazing level of consistency within the broad confines of format and repertoire. And, with this miniature history lesson in jazz piano, there's no reason to doubt that the trio have more miles under the bonnet. www.musicconnection.co.uk

RAY COMISKEY