On the 21st October, 2020, nine days before the release of Budapest Concert, Keith Jarrett revealed to the New York Times that he had fallen victim to two strokes in February and May of 2018. These unfortunately left him partially paralysed. "The most I'm expected to recover in my left hand is possibly the ability to hold a cup in it" lamented the 75-year-old pianist, who will likely never be able to perform again. In his vast discography there are many live recordings. For Jarrett, the concert recordings hold just as much value as those done in the studio, if not more... On the 3rd July, 2016, the American was alone onstage in the Bela Bartok concert hall in Budapest. As is often the case for Jarrett, the material he plays here has no title and is instead divided into parts, here numbered from 1 to 12, just like on his Munich 2016 album which was released in November 2019 and recorded on the 16th of July 2016, a few days after his Budapest performance. For a Bartók fanatic like Jarrett, who on his mother's side is himself a great-grandson of Hungarian emigrants, this performance has a special flavour to it. Unsurprisingly, Jarrett's improvisational prowess is on show here, as well as his ability to make his piano swing like his elders and improvise in rhythmically and harmonically complex phrases with ease. A tsunami of notes (the middle of Part III draws from his 1977 Survivors' Suite) precedes a blues theme that has been reworked from scratch. A folkloric standard replaces an overtly classical construction. And so on and so forth. The parts don’t really communicate with each other but Keith Jarret’s ever fascinating style keeps the listener engaged with his sporadic stylistic decisions. As in Munich, this fusion creation closes with the standards It’s a Lonesome Old Town, popularised by Sinatra, and Answer Me, popularised by Nat King Cole. This is his way of reminding us where his heritage lies, even if it has been audaciously turned upside down here... An astounding new journey from Jarrett. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz