Sun Bear Concerts (1976)

About this title: This gargantuan package -- a ten-LP set now compressed into a chunky six-CD box -- once was derided as the ultimate ego trip, probably by many who didn't take the time to hear it all. You have to go back to Art Tatum's solo records for Norman Granz in the '50s to find another large single outpouring of solo jazz piano like this, all of it improvised on the wing before five Japanese audiences in Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Sapporo. Yet the miracle is how consistently good much of this giant box is. In the opening Kyoto concert, Jarrett's gospel-driven muse is in full play, up to the level ... read more

Tracks:

1. Kyoto, November 5, 1976, Pt. 1 [Jarrett]
2. Kyoto, November 5, 1976, Pt. 2 [Jarrett]
3. Osaka November 8, 1976, Pt. 1 [Jarrett]
4. Osaka November 8, 1976, Pt. 2 [Jarrett]
5. November 12, 1976, Pt. 1 [Jarrett]
6. November 12, 1976, Pt. 2 [Jarrett]
7. November 14, 1976, Pt. 1 [Jarrett]
8. November 14, 1976, Pt. 2 [Jarrett]
9. November 18, 1976, Pt. 1 [Jarrett]
10. November 18, 1976, Pt. 2 [Jarrett]
11. Encores: Sapporo [Jarrett]
12. Encores: Tokyo [Jarrett]
13. Encores: Nagoya [Jarrett]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.