''Restoration Ruin'' is an album by

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

on which he performs multiple instruments (including piano, organ, guitar, soprano saxophone, harmonica,

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

, bass guitar, drums, tambourine and

sistrum A sistrum (plural: sistra or (in Latin) sīstra; from the Greek ''seistron'' of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from ''seiein'', "to shake") is a musical instrument of the percussion family, a form of rattle, used mo ...

), and sings his own lyrics. Recorded and released on the

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

subsidiary Vortex in 1968,Keith Jarrett discography
accessed April 5, 2010 the album remains unique in Jarrett's catalogue, displaying a sound largely influenced by

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. It can be seen as the first part of an experimental period which explored neither traditional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

nor

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. Here Jarrett overdubs himself on various instruments, similar to the tribal ''

Spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

'' (1985) or especially the

free funk Free-funk is a combination of avant-garde jazz with funk music that developed in the 1970s. Leaders of the genre include Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time group, Ronald Shannon Jackson and his group Decoding Society, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and hi ...

'' No End'' (2013, recorded in 1986). "Sioux City Sue New" was released as a 45 rpm single, backed with "You're Fortunate." In 1999,

Collectables Records Collectables Records is an American reissue record label, founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Greene also formed the Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. History It maintains a catalogue of over 3,400 active titles on compact disc, with thousands ...

reissued the album paired with the

Art Ensemble of Chicago The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jaz ...

's '' Bap-Tizum''.

Reception

In his quite enthusiastic Jarrett's biography

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus (band), Nucleus, and was an associate professor a ...

states: The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Richie Unterberger awarded the album 2½ stars, and states, "''Restoration Ruin'' is a real oddity in the Jarrett catalog: a vocal album on which he plays all the instruments. And not a jazz vocal album, either, but a folk-rock one in which he alternates—quite literally, track to track—between sub- Dylan outings and more folk-Baroque ones that echo the late-'60s work of artists like

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

and

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his ...

".Unterberger, R.

Allmusic Review 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 data ...

accessed April 5, 2010 The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on compact disc, CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions wer ...

'' commented: "The pieces are all very short, sometimes almost perfunctory, but there is no mistaking Jarrett's gifts and, as an exercise in instrumental eclecticism, it is a much more appealing and convincing performance than the later ''Spirits''."

Track listing

All compositions are by Keith Jarrett. # "Restoration Ruin" – 2:20 # "All Right" – 2:47 # "For You and Me" – 2:40 # "Have a Real Time" – 2:51 # "Sioux City Sue New" – 2:50 # "You're Fortunate" – 2:21 # "Fire and Rain" – 2:50 # "Now He Knows Better" – 2:58 # "Wonders" – 4:02 # "Where Are You Going?" – 3:53

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, harmonica,

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

, piano,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, electric bass, drums,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

*Unidentified string quartet (tracks 1,3,5,9)

References

{{Authority control Atlantic Records albums Keith Jarrett albums 1968 albums Albums produced by George Avakian Vortex Records albums