Mysteries (album)

Mysteries
Studio album by Keith Jarrett
Released	1976
Recorded	December 1975
Genre	Jazz
Length	42:41
Label	Impulse!
Producer	Esmond Edwards
Keith Jarrett chronology
The Koln Concert (1975) Mysteries (1975) Arbour Zena (1975)

Mysteries is the fourth album on the Impulse label by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. Originally released in 1976 it features performances by Jarrett's 'American Quartet' which included Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian with Guilherme Franco added on percussion.

In October 2011, Shades was reissued with Mysteries in a single disc format titled Mysteries / Shades, as part of the Impulse! 2-on-1 series. Both albums were the product of the same recording sessions.

The album was included in the 1996 four disc Mysteries - Impulse Years 1975-76, a box-set which also featured Jarrett's two final albums for Impulse Byablue and Bop-Be.^[1]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album four stars stating "The Coltrane-ish 15-minute title track has passages of meditative beauty and others of listless torpor. For completists only."^[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Writing for jazz-com, Ted Giola gave the track "Everything That Lives Laments" a rating of 95/100 and described it as follows: "The opening section, played in a free tempo, takes on a funereal stateliness. The ensemble plays with great control and sensitivity, but the quality of sound Haden extracts from his bass deserves special mention. Then, shortly after the two-minute market, the combo settles into a lilting groove over a quirky six-bar chord pattern, where what sounds like the start of the turnaround (because the listener is expecting an eight bar structure) is actually the return to the top of the form — a clever device that is very effectively employed here... this recording testifies that his American combo ranked among the finest jazz groups of the mid-1970s."^[3]

Track listing

1. "Rotation" – 11:02
2. "Everything That Lives Laments" – 10:03
3. "Flame" – 6:10
4. "Mysteries" – 15:08

All compositions by Keith Jarrett

• Recorded December 10, 1975 at Generation Sound Studios, NYC
• Mixed and mastered at – Kendun Recorders^[4]

Personnel

• Keith Jarrett – piano, flute, percussion
• Dewey Redman – tenor saxophone, musette, percussion
• Charlie Haden – double bass
• Paul Motian – drums, percussion
• Guilherme Franco – percussion

• Producer – Esmond Edwards
• Engineer – Tony May
• Art Director – Tom Wilkes
• Cover photograph – Keith Jarrett

References