Invocations/The Moth and the Flame

Invocations/The Moth and the Flame
Studio album by Keith Jarrett
Released	1981
Recorded	November, 1979 and November, 1980
Genre	Improvised music
Length	81:06
Label	ECM
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Keith Jarrett chronology
Nude Ants (1979) Invocations/The Moth and the Flame (1979-80) G.I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns (1980)

Invocations/The Moth and the Flame is a double album of improvised music written by and performed by Keith Jarrett on soprano saxophone and Pipe Organ ("Invocations" - recorded at the Benedictine Abbey in Ottobeuren, Germany) and Piano ("The Moth and the Flame") which was released on the ECM label in 1981.^[1]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 3 stars noting "If this schizophrenic double-CD set didn't throw Keith Jarrett's most devoted fans for a loop, nothing ever will. Here we have two radically disparate works involving different timbres, attacks and mindsets, both within themselves and with each other. On "Invocations," a seven-movement suite, Jarrett returns to the massive pipe organ in Ottobeuren, Germany for a series of sometimes wildly contrasting episodes... "The Moth and the Flame" finds Jarrett back in a studio with a grand piano, improvising musical still lifes, rambling aimlessly, or doing his rollicking E-flat ostinato thing familiar from the solo concerts. About all that these two pieces share, with the exception of the E-flat movement from "Moth," is an aversion to a jazz pulse, so although there are plenty of rewarding passages here, casual Jarrett browsers are hereby warned".^[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Keith Jarrett

Disc One:

1. "Invocations-First (Solo Voice)" - 5:21
2. "Invocations-Second (Mirages,Realities)" - 8:58
3. "Invocations-Third (Power, Resolve)" - 7:32
4. "Invocations-Fourth (Shock, Scatter)" - 6:48
5. "Invocations-Fifth (Recognition)" - 5:04
6. "Invocations-Sixth (Celebration)" - 5:33
7. "Invocations-Seventh (Solo Voice)" - 3:04

Disc Two:

1. "The Moth and the Flame Part 1" - 6:58
2. "The Moth and the Flame Part 2" - 5:36
3. "The Moth and the Flame Part 3" - 8:23
4. "The Moth and the Flame Part 4" - 8:07
5. "The Moth and the Flame Part 5" - 9:42

• Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, West Germany in November, 1979 (Disc Two) and at Ottobeuren Abbey, West Germany in November 1980 (Disc One).

Personnel

• Keith Jarrett – pipe organ, soprano saxophone, piano

References

1. Keith Jarrett discography accessed August 15, 2011
2. Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Review accessed August 15, 2011
3. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 112. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.