Keith Jarrett | "Facing You" 50th Anniversary

On November 10, 1971 pianist Keith Jarrett entered the Arne Bendiksen studio in Oslo Norway to record his ECM debut, Facing You. This album of solo piano pieces, which now has its 50th anniversary, was produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Facing You was the auspicious start to a celebrated landmark run of recordings that created a new solo piano paradigm, with albums including: Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne; The Köln Concert; Sun Bear Concerts; The Melody at Night, With You and Jarrett’s latest release, Budapest Concert.

“I was on tour with Miles Davis and had met Manfred around this time,” Jarrett recalled. “He had written me about a proposed collaboration with Chick Corea but I was set on recording solo. I thought it would be a novel idea to not prepare and was totally comfortable with my decision despite a tight afternoon schedule while strictly playing electric piano on the tour.”

Jarrett reminisced about the initial idea of recording solo. “Prior to the recording, Manfred and I went to a classical concert at the university in Heidelberg in which I performed solo. I improvised between a couple of standards and was encouraged by the positive reaction.”