The Survivors' Suite

The Survivors' Suite
Studio album by Keith Jarrett
Released	1977
Recorded	1976, April
Studio	Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg (Germany)
Genre	Jazz
Length	48:39
Label	ECM [ECM 1085]
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Keith Jarrett chronology
Shades (1975) The Survivors' Suite (1977) Staircase (1976)
Keith Jarrett American Quartet chronology
Shades (1975) The Survivors' Suite (1976) Eyes of the Heart (1976)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Penguin Guide to Jazz
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide
Tom Hull	B+ ()

The Survivors' Suite is an album by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett featuring his 'American Quartet' ensemble which included Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian. It represents the first album they recorded for ECM and in terms of music it has been widely considered to find the group at its pinnacle. Initially published in January 1977, vinyl was reissued in April 2017 as audiophile pressing taken from the original analog tapes.

Original notes

In the original ECM 1085 vinyl and CD issues this quote can be found (no author stated, possibly by Keith Jarrett):

"And those that create out of the holocaust of their own inheritance anything more than a convenient self-made tomb shall be known as 'Survivors'."

Conception and composition

Regarding sound, venues, composition and orchestration, in a February 2009 interview conducted by Stuart Nicholson, Keith Jarrett stated that:

(..) the whole music of The Survivors' Suite was written – and this is something that's perhaps not known widely at all – ... that suite of pieces was written specifically for Avery Fisher Hall in New York, because I knew we were going to play there, I think it was opposite Monk as part of the festival. I knew from playing in Avery Fisher Hall many times the sound was not precise enough onstage to play fast tempos, [the sound] got blurred – so I decided to write the music for that evening. I felt it was important as an evening of music and that’s the first place we played it and it was written for that hall and then it became something we did at other places. So there was a rationale to that, but I think very few people would ever say, "Would you conceive, Mr. Jarrett, of writing for a specific hall?" I probably would say, "No." But the answer lies in the fact that I knew the hall to be very poor for certain kinds of things and if you listen to The Survivor’s Suite you’ll notice there are no fast tempos."

Critical reception

According to some sources, it was voted Jazz Album of the Year 1978 by the extinct Melody Maker. In their review, it was noted that "The Survivors' Suite is a brilliantly organized and full-blooded work which provides the perfect setting for all four talents. This is a very complete record. It creates its own universe and explores it thoroughly, leaving the listener awed and satisfied... An unashamedly ardent album, Jarrett’s very finest."

Writing for the now defunct jazz magazine Jazz.com, Ted Gioia rated 97/100 the whole The Survivors' Suite:

"As with so many other Jarrett extended combo works from this period (such as Mysteries and Death and the Flower), The Survivors' Suite takes on a majestic (and sometimes somber) ceremonial tone. Listening to this performance, I can't help recalling anthropologist Victor Turner's emphasis on the linkages between artistic performance and rituals, connections that have slowly been drained out of art-making in the postmodern era, where the sting of irony seems ever present. The Survivors' Suite, in contrast, is an irony-free zone, music-making as serious as the title might indicate.

The first movement's opening is almost an invocation, a summoning of spirits. The piano does not show up until almost nine minutes into the performance. But this is no surprise to listeners familiar with the work of Jarrett's so-called "American Quartet," which was a master of the slow build, of a gradually intensifying soundscape. Nothing is rushed here, and as in a ritual, even the smallest gesture resonates with rich layers of meaning. The second movement is freer and fiercer, a shaman's possession dance which resists limits and constraints, yet still retains its larger-than-life ceremonial aspects. Even when the tonal center emerges, and the chord changes return to guide the performance to its terminus, this sense of transcendence remains.

Those who know Jarrett through his solo piano efforts or his well-documented trio work should familiarize themselves with this piece, and the American Quartet's other works from the era. You may be surprised at how generously (and movingly) Jarrett sublimates his own pianism to a larger sense of combo and composition. All too soon, this period in his career would pass. Shortly after this recording, this fertile ensemble disbanded and Jarrett headed off in other directions."

The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock awarded the album 5 stars, stating, "Like other albums of its time, this was beginning to show the brightness, lightness, and soft edges of contemporary jazz, but the solidness of Haden's bass helps the music rooted and earthbound.".

The Penguin Guide to Jazz by Richard Cook and Brian Morton regards the album as a "masterpiece, with the quartet pulling together on an ambitiously large-scale piece, each member contributing whole-heartedly and passionately."

Track listing

All music composed by Keith Jarrett.

1. "The Survivors' Suite: Beginning" - 27:21
2. "The Survivors' Suite: Conclusion' - 21:18

Personnel

• Keith Jarrett - piano, soprano saxophone, recorder, celeste, osi drums
• Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, percussion
• Charlie Haden - double-bass
• Paul Motian - drums, percussion

Technical Personnel

• Martin Wieland - recording engineer
• Barbara Wojirsch - layout
• Manfred Eicher - production
• Keith Jarrett - cover photo