Sun Bear Concerts

''Sun Bear Concerts'' is a live box set by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett compiling five solo piano concerts performed over two weeks during his November 1976 tour in Japan and released on ECM in January 1978.

Background

November 1976 solo tour in Japan

''Sun Bear Concerts'' compiles five of the eight concerts performed on Jarrett's November 1976 solo tour in Japan:Keith Jarrett 1976 live concerts
accessed May 16, 2020

* November 5 – Kaikan Hall, Kyoto
* November 6 – Denki Hall, Fukuoka
* November 8 – Sankei Hall, Osaka
* November 10 – NHK Hall, Tokyo
* November 12 – Aichi Auditorium, Nagoya
* November 14 – Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo
* November 16 – Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, Yokohama
* November 18 – Hokkaido Kosei Nenkin Hall, Sapporo

Recording

In a 1979 interview, Jarrett stated, "I was involved in a very searching period of time when we recorded that, and the music itself was almost a release for the search. I've been thinking—''Sun Bear'' is the only thing I've recorded that runs the gamut of human emotion. I think that if you got to know it well enough, you'd find it all in there someplace."

Title

Jarrett, as quoted in his biography, explained the title:

On a Japanese tour I saw a sun bear in the zoo, a small bear which really looked friendly and doesn't exist anywhere outside Japan. The next day I asked our Japanese sound engineer about this animal because I remembered its face, a really friendly small face, and he replied, 'Yes, it's a beautiful bear but if you get near enough to him he will knock you three blocks down the road'. I simply liked the idea of an animal that looks as if it would be nice to get near to and which, when you do so, shakes your whole conception of life.

Release history

The ''Sun Bear Concerts'' were originally released as a ten-LP set in January 1978, and re-released in 1989 as a six-CD (and six cassette) box set, with encores from the concerts in Sapporo, Tokyo and Nagoya—the first that the five performances could be heard as a whole.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Richard S. Ginell states, "While ''Sun Bear'' breaks little ground that his earlier solo piano albums had not already covered, it is nevertheless richly inventive within Jarrett's personal parameter of idioms. If price is not a barrier, the Jarrett devotee need not hesitate". A review by Thom Jurek of the 2021 facsimile edition refers to the album as "a pinnacle of creative invention in Jarrett's voluminous catalog".

Writing for Rolling Stone, Mikal Gilmore remarked, "Nowhere else in his collected works does music seem more effortless and splendid. From the opening phrase onward, it unfolds like an idyllic dream on the border of consciousness, and like the best of dreams – or narratives – you never want it to end. It is, to my mind, one of the few real self-contained epics in Seventies music."

Writing for ECM blog ''Between Sound and Space'', Tyran Grillo commented, "The ''Sun Bear Concerts'' prove that not only is Jarrett an unparalleled improviser but a melodician of the highest order. These pieces are consistent in their striking differences, yet all seem couched in a palpable melancholy that is striated with joy. Despite the sheer volume of music that seems to reside in Jarrett's entire physiological being, one gets the sense after listening to these six-and-a-half hours of brilliance that they comprise but a single molecule of creation dissected and slowed to discernible speeds. At least we, at this moment in time, can witness these atomic paths, knowing full well that their beauty lies in an allegiance to silence. Not a single note ever feels out of place, because it has no place to begin with, except as the emblem of that which is gone before it arrives... If you ever buy only one recording of Keith Jarrett, look no further. Then again, why stop here?"

Jarrett biographer Ian Carr called ''Sun Bear Concerts'' "a monumental record of Jarrett's work at a crucial stage of his development," and wrote: "there are amazingly few dead or dull patches and all five concerts seem related like a massive suite. The improvisation also seems much more organic than on the earlier live solo albums... There are more new colours and new rhythms... and the music tends to evolve rather than to chop and change. There is a clear sense of ebbing and flowing, and the marvellous dynamics, ranging from triple forte to pianissimo, also enhance this."

Track listing

Original release

Kyoto, November 5th, 1976

Osaka, November 8th, 1976

Nagoya, November 12th, 1976

Tokyo, November 14th, 1976

Sapporo, November 18th, 1976

1989 reissue

Personnel

* Keith Jarrett – piano

Technical personnel

* Manfred Eicher – producer
* Okihino Sugano – recording engineer
* Shinji Ohtsuka – recording engineer
* Barbara Wojirsch – cover design and layout
* Klaus Knaup – photography
* Tadayuki Naitoh – photography
* Akira Aimi – photography

References

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Keith Jarrett live albums
1978 live albums
ECM Records live albums
Albums produced by Manfred Eicher
1970s instrumental albums
Solo piano jazz albums