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Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: The Old Country review – a delightful return to a cherished jazz venue


Full of blistering bebop and entrancing swing, this 1992 recording showcases the pianist’s love of the Deer Head Inn, the clapboard 1840s hotel where he cut his teeth

When he first played the Deer Head Inn, a romantic 1840s clapboard hotel on the edge of a Delaware national park, Keith Jarrett was 16, just out of high school and making $48 a week as a shipping clerk. Everything I Love is an unaccompanied whirl turning to entrancing swing, and Thelonious Monk’s Straight No Chaser is a blistering fusion of extended bebop improv and succinct, groove-mimicking phrasing. And young UK rising-star pianist Joe Webb confirms his eclectic class with Hamstrings & Hurricanes (Edition), shrewdly reappraising swing, boogie and the blues in storming runs and splashy chording.

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Photo of Paul Motian

Paul Motian

Photo of Keith Jarrett/

Keith Jarrett/

Photo of Old Country

Old Country