Invocations/The Moth and the Flame

Invocations/The Moth and the Flame
Studio album by Keith Jarrett
Released	1981
Recorded	November, 1979 and November, 1980
Genre	Improvised music
Length	81:06
Label	ECM
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Keith Jarrett chronology
Nude Ants (1979) Invocations/The Moth and the Flame (1979-80) G.I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns (1980)

Invocations/The Moth and the Flame is a double album of improvised music written by and performed by Keith Jarrett on soprano saxophone and Pipe Organ ("Invocations" - recorded at the Benedictine Abbey in Ottobeuren, Germany) and Piano ("The Moth and the Flame") which was released on the ECM label in 1981.<ref name"Jarrett discography">Keith Jarrett discography accessed August 15, 2011</ref>

Reception

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 3 stars noting "If this schizophrenic double-CD set didn't throw Keith Jarrett's most devoted fans for a loop, nothing ever will. Here we have two radically disparate works involving different timbres, attacks and mindsets, both within themselves and with each other. On "Invocations," a seven-movement suite, Jarrett returns to the massive pipe organ in Ottobeuren, Germany for a series of sometimes wildly contrasting episodes... "The Moth and the Flame" finds Jarrett back in a studio with a grand piano, improvising musical still lifes, rambling aimlessly, or doing his rollicking E-flat ostinato thing familiar from the solo concerts. About all that these two pieces share, with the exception of the E-flat movement from "Moth," is an aversion to a jazz pulse, so although there are plenty of rewarding passages here, casual Jarrett browsers are hereby warned".^[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Track listing

All compositions by Keith Jarrett

Disc One:

1. "Invocations-First (Solo Voice)" - 5:21
2. "Invocations-Second (Mirages,Realities)" - 8:58
3. "Invocations-Third (Power, Resolve)" - 7:32
4. "Invocations-Fourth (Shock, Scatter)" - 6:48
5. "Invocations-Fifth (Recognition)" - 5:04
6. "Invocations-Sixth (Celebration)" - 5:33
7. "Invocations-Seventh (Solo Voice)" - 3:04

Disc Two:

1. "The Moth and the Flame Part 1" - 6:58
2. "The Moth and the Flame Part 2" - 5:36
3. "The Moth and the Flame Part 3" - 8:23
4. "The Moth and the Flame Part 4" - 8:07
5. "The Moth and the Flame Part 5" - 9:42

• Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, West Germany in November, 1979 (Disc One) and at Ottobeuren Abbey, West Germany in November 1980 (Disc Two).

Personnel

• Keith Jarrett – pipe organ, soprano saxophone, piano

References