ECM will release Roma on November 6, 2026, the fifth and final concert recording from Keith Jarrett’s acclaimed 2016 European solo tour. Recorded at Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome on July 12, 2016, the album brings the remarkable series to a close with a performance that has a character and identity all its own.
Jarrett’s 2016 tour produced five extraordinary solo concerts, each revealing a different side of his approach to spontaneous composition. Budapest Concert, Munich 2016, Bordeaux Concert, New Vienna and now Roma collectively document an artist at the height of his improvisational powers, creating complete musical structures in real time.
The Rome performance unfolds as a continuous journey through ten improvised parts, followed by two familiar encores. Jarrett begins by essentially clearing the musical canvas in “Part I,” gradually building momentum through dense chromatic lines and sharply articulated figures before allowing recognizable themes and sustained tones to emerge.
“Part II” continues in a darker, more organized vein, while the subsequent sections move through contrasting textures, unexpected counterpoint and passages of intense rhythmic concentration. Rather than sounding like a collection of unrelated improvisations, the performance develops into a large-scale architectural work, with each section contributing to the overall shape.
There are moments throughout Roma that demonstrate just how wide Jarrett’s musical vocabulary remained. In “Part V,” he seemingly pulls a swinging gospel performance out of thin air. “Part VI” is marked by expansive, arpeggiated harmonic structures, while “Part IX” digs into a gritty blues vocabulary. Elsewhere, Jarrett's lifelong affection for the songcraft of the first half of the 20th century emerges through melodies that sound almost like standards, even though they are being invented on the spot.
By “Part X,” Jarrett returns the music to something resembling the blank canvas with which he began. The concert then concludes with two of his most beloved encores, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “It’s A Lonesome Old Town.” Both pieces are familiar territory for Jarrett, but his performances are anything but routine, with fresh phrasing and renewed emotional weight.
At the time of the Rome concert, La Repubblica captured the essence of Jarrett’s solo performances, describing him as celebrating a timeless ritual and paying tribute to “the act of creation” through spontaneous composition before an audience. That description seems particularly appropriate when looking back at the entire 2016 tour.
The five concerts were performed over just 13 days, yet each became its own musical world. Budapest ranged from abstract, polyrhythmic improvisation to blues and bebop-inspired passages. Munich was notable for its extraordinary intensity. Bordeaux moved between atonality, hymn-like lyricism, blues and deeply affecting melodic passages. New Vienna presented a more concise, suite-like approach, with nine distinct sections and Jarrett’s characteristic command of melody, space and dynamics.
Roma completes that sequence without simply looking backward. There is a sense of summation, but not retrospection. Jarrett remains focused on the moment, responding to the piano, the room and his own musical instincts as the performance develops.
The album also arrives as part of a continuing series of archival and reissue projects surrounding Jarrett's extraordinary recorded legacy. ECM will also reissue Jasmine, Jarrett’s intimate 2010 collaboration with bassist Charlie Haden, on vinyl November 20, 2026, as part of the label’s Luminessence audiophile series.
Originally recorded at Jarrett’s home studio in New Jersey, Jasmine reunited the pianist and Haden more than three decades after their earlier recordings together. The duo explores a selection of classic standards including “Body and Soul,” “For All We Know,” “Where Can I Go Without You” and “Don’t Ever Leave Me.” The album's understated intimacy stands in striking contrast to the expansive solo improvisation heard on Roma, but both recordings reveal the same fundamental quality: Jarrett's extraordinary ability to listen, respond and create in the moment.
With Roma, ECM completes one of the most significant archival chapters in Keith Jarrett’s solo career. The album doesn't merely document another concert from 2016. It preserves another singular musical event from an artist whose entire career was built around the idea that the most compelling performance might be the one that could never be repeated.
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