November in Japan

Keith Jarrett was in November 1976 in Japan on tour and gave ten concerts. Actually, only one concert should be pressed on disk, but since Keith Jarrett and Manfred Eicher could not decide, they released the five "Sun Bear Concerts" at the time as 10 (!) LPs. The CD holder gives concerts again in Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo and Sapporo. The sixth CD with 23 minutes additions is rather superfluous.
"Sun Bear Concerts" is 6 1/2 hours of piano improvisation at its best. To really enjoy this, it needs a CD changer and a lot of time. The piano concertos by Keith Jarrett make really fun when you have heard a few times and can be oriented in the soundscapes. In Booklett is the motto "Think of your ears as eyes". First you start as a blind person, but the longer you listen to the music, the more you see the beauty of the soundscapes. Although the individual concerts have been recorded at intervals of four days and freely improvised, found no repetitions. Each concert is unique in its class.
The "Sun Bear Concerts" were just two years after the "Cologne", but are completely different. From the mood they are most comparable to the studio recording "Staircase" in May 1976. The genius of the "Sun Bear Concerts" is that they spread a rather introverted soundscape and combine this with a light, jazzy and an optimistic outlook on the pitch. The early concerts "Lausanne", "Bremen", "Cologne" and "Bregenz" against heavily on this playfulness Keith Jarrett. The late concert "Dark interval" (in Tokyo), "Paris", "Vienna" and "La Scala", however, are particularly introverted, very classic from the tone and heavy. The "Sun Bear Concerts" combine the two and are certainly one of the best concerts of Keith Jarrett.