The Survivors' Suite

The Survivors' Suite is an album by American pianist Keith Jarrett which was released on the ECM label. It features Jarrett's 'American Quartet' ensemble which included Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian and represents the first album they recorded for ECM. Initially published in January 1977, vinyl was reissued in April 2017 as audiophile pressing taken from the original analog tapes.[1]

The Survivors' Suite
Studio album by
Keith Jarrett
ReleasedJanuary 1977
RecordedApril 1976
StudioTonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg (Germany)
GenreJazz
Length48:39
LabelECM
ECM 1085
ProducerManfred Eicher
Keith Jarrett chronology
Shades
(1975)		 The Survivors' Suite
(1977)		 Staircase
(1976)

Original notes

In the original ECM 1085 vinyl and CD issues this quote can be found (no author stated, possibly by Keith Jarrett):

"And those that create out of the holocaust of their own inheritance anything more than a convenient self-made tomb shall be known as 'Survivors'."

Conception and composition

Regarding sound, venues, composition and orchestration, in a February 2009 interview conducted by Stuart Nicholson, Keith Jarrett stated that:

(..) the whole music of The Survivors' Suite was written – and this is something that’s perhaps not known widely at all – ... that suite of pieces was written specifically for Avery Fisher Hall in New York, because I knew we were going to play there, I think it was opposite Monk as part of the festival. I knew from playing in Avery Fisher Hall many times the sound was not precise enough onstage to play fast tempos, [the sound] got blurred – so I decided to write the music for that evening. I felt it was important as an evening of music and that’s the first place we played it and it was written for that hall and then it became something we did at other places. So there was a rationale to that, but I think very few people would ever say, "Would you conceive, Mr. Jarrett, of writing for a specific hall?" I probably would say, "No." But the answer lies in the fact that I knew the hall to be very poor for certain kinds of things and if you listen to The Survivor’s Suite you’ll notice there are no fast tempos."[2]

Reception

According to some sources, it was voted Jazz Album of the Year 1978 by the extinct Melody Maker. In their review, it was noted that "The Survivors' Suite is a brilliantly organized and full-blooded work which provides the perfect setting for all four talents. This is a very complete record. It creates its own universe and explores it thoroughly, leaving the listener awed and satisfied... An unashamedly ardent album, Jarrett’s very finest."[1]

The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock awarded the album 5 stars, stating, "Like other albums of its time, this was beginning to show the brightness, lightness, and soft edges of contemporary jazz, but the solidness of Haden's bass helps the music rooted and earthbound.".[3]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[5]
Tom HullB+ ()[6]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz by Richard Cook and Brian Morton regards the album as a "masterpiece, with the quartet pulling together on an ambitiously large-scale piece, each member contributing whole-heartedly and passionately."[4]

Track listing
  1. "The Survivors' Suite: Beginning" - 27:21
  2. "The Survivors' Suite: Conclusion' - 21:18
All compositions by Keith Jarrett.

Personnel
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References
  1. ECM The Survivors' suite, Keith Jarrett accessed May 16, 2020
  2. Nicholson, S. (February 2009) Keith Jarrett Interview Conducted By Stuart Nicholson accessed May 16, 2020
  3. Proefrock, S. Allmusic Review accessed September 16, 2011
  4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 769. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  5. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 112. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  6. Hull, Tom (28 February 2018). "Streamnotes". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 9 July 2020.


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