Juan Hitters: Juan's picture in Keith Jarrett's new album: Testament

miércoles, 28 de octubre de 2009

Juan's picture in Keith Jarrett's new album: Testament

Manfred Eicher, the legendary producer who founded the German music label ECM 40 years ago, has chosen one of Juan's pictures for the cover of latest recording by Keith Jarrett, Testament. This triple album features two concerts Keith gave in London and Paris during November and December 2008. Juan has been listening to Keith since he was 14, when he discovered "The Köln Concert", so it is with huge pride that he shares this news with you today. Juan had previously contributed with ECM providing pictures for most of Dino Saluzzi's CDs as well as Pablo Márquez' solo effort, Música del Delphin .

What's on the CD player this week

New film about Architect César Pelli

What's on the CD player this week

"Sound City": real to reel. Dave Grohl has put together many wonderful musicians and directed a documentary film called Sound City. The movie is about the sheer joy of playing and recording plain (or not so plain) rock music starring Chris Goss, Joshua Homme, Rupert Neve, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Trent Reznor, Rick Rubin and Paul Mc Cartney to name just a few. The soundtrack is a true marvel, similar in a way to Slash's first solo album. It has been on steady rotation since I came back from Sydney.

Keith Jarrett at Teatro Colon

Tonight Keith Jarrett is improvising on the piano at Teatro Colon. It has been nearly three decades since I listened to "The Köln Concert" for the first time. The experience was revealing. It is probably one of the albums I have enjoyed the most. I clearly remember once driving with friends along a deserted road someplace in Uruguay while listening to Keith play the old Bösendorfer in Cologne. The compact cassette sounded awful, but I could do nothing but wonder: listening to this beautiful music recorded many years ago, in a far away city, while driving through this lonely country, was magic! Well, life has been good to me, and gave me the opportunity of contributing to ECM on Keith Jarrett's "Testament" album cover, a recording of two improvised concerts in Paris and London. This was a couple of years ago. Tonight I will be listening to the man himself, no state of the art recording or crappy cassette, just an incredible musician playing the piano. You bet I am looking forward to this experience.