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''Back Hand'' is an album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded in two sessions in October 1974 that also gave way to the album '' Death and the Flower''. Originally released in 1975 by
Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...
, it features performances by Jarrett's American Quartet, which included
Dewey Redman Walter Dewey Redman (May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006) was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. Redman mainly played tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also played ...
,
Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
and
Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...
along with
Guilherme Franco Guilherme Franco (born November 25, 1946 and died November 12, 2016 in São Paulo, Brazil) was a percussionist in the jazz and world fusion music genres. Franco performed on the albums of many notable jazz musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Lonn ...
added on percussion. For a long time the album remained a relatively obscure work until it was resuscitated by
Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...
years later. Aside from its appearance in '' The Impulse Years: 1973-1974'' boxset in 1997, the music contained in ''Back Hand'' had been reissued only on compact disc in Japan, packaged in a miniature replica of the original vinyl LP sleeve. It also appeared in Italy, in 2001, as a supplement to the ''La Repubblica'' national newspaper, copyrighted as "Musicom S.R.L." Pianist
Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical trad ...
recorded the tune "Back Hand" for the 2000 album ''As Long as You're Living Yours: The Music of Keith Jarrett'', where it is listed as "Backhand". The track later appeared on the 2006 Hornsby compilation ''
Intersections (1985–2005) ''Intersections (1985–2005)'' is a 4-CD and DVD retrospective boxed set by Bruce Hornsby. The tracks are a mixture of previously unreleased live recordings, unreleased studio recordings, and album cuts. The boxed set's title emphasizes the lar ...
''. A short version of "Vapallia" appeared on Jarrett's solo album ''
Facing You ''Facing You'' is the first solo piano album recorded by pianist Keith Jarrett, the first of his voluminous collection to be produced by Manfred Eicher and his first work to be released by ECM Records. It features eight solo piano pieces (imp ...
'', recorded in 1971.


Reception

An
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
review by
Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles a ...
awarded the album 4.5 stars stating "The group (with Jarrett occasionally switching to flute and Redman to the bizarre-sounding musette) is in typically exploratory, yet often melodic form on lengthy renditions of four of Jarrett's inside/outside originals.".Yanow, S
Allmusic Review
accessed September 16, 2011
In a separate AllMusic review, Michael G. Nastos awarded ''Back Hand'' 5 stars, referring to the group as a "landmark quintet", and writing: "any recording by this band is worthwhile". Pianist / composer
Ethan Iverson Ethan Iverson (born February 11, 1973) is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Biography Iverson was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin ...
singled out the track "Vapallia" for praise, calling it a "beautiful space ballad", and writing: "The emotion of the composition borders on the saccharine, but Redman's sonority and simple horn fills work as a salty agent, balancing out the elements, creating something mysterious." Iverson called "Back Hand" "an amusingly square stomp, quite strange in affect... for grunting quartet" and noted "this might be the first time the band is actually playing Jazz with a capital J... there is amazing potential here, the band is just starting this era of swing." Phil Freeman, writing for Burning Ambulance, commented that "Inflight" reminded him of the
Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Col ...
albums ''
Science Fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
'' and '' Broken Shadows'', largely because of the presence of Redman and Haden, who played on both recordings, and whose performances Freeman called "bluesy and hard-swinging, but also seeming to hover in place rather than charge forward." Freeman also praised Jarrett's solo on "Back Hand", stating that it is "like a waterfall landing on highly polished glass, sending bright outbursts of light shimmering in all directions."


Track listing

:''All compositions by Keith Jarrett'' # "Inflight" - 9:04 # "Kuum" - 11:34 # "Vapallia" - 7:46 # "Back Hand" - 11:05 The Italian edition also featured a fifth track: "Victoria" - 5:04 (composed by Jarrett and Paul Motian)


Personnel

* Keith Jarrett - piano, flute, percussion *
Dewey Redman Walter Dewey Redman (May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006) was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. Redman mainly played tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also played ...
- tenor saxophone, musette, percussion *
Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
- bass *
Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...
- drums, percussion *
Guilherme Franco Guilherme Franco (born November 25, 1946 and died November 12, 2016 in São Paulo, Brazil) was a percussionist in the jazz and world fusion music genres. Franco performed on the albums of many notable jazz musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Lonn ...
- percussion Production * Ed Michel - producer * Tony May - engineer * Baker Bigsby - engineer (mixing) * Rom Wilkes - art direction * Tim Bryant - design


References

{{Authority control Keith Jarrett albums Impulse! Records albums 1975 albums