Sun Bear Concerts – documenting five complete solo performances by Keith Jarrett in Japan – counts as a milestone achievement in the history of jazz recording. As Down Beat wrote, on the occasion of the original release, Jarrett’s improvisations are “the inventions of a giant, overpoweringly intimate in the way they can draw a listener in and hold him captive. Jarrett has once more stepped into the cave of his creative consciousness and brought to light music of startling power, majesty and warmth.” Rich in incident and detail, the music in this set, first issued in 1978, revealed Jarrett as a player of limitless creativity, unique in his ability to find new forms in the moment, night after night. “These marathons showed Jarrett to be one of the greatest improvisers in jazz,” Ian Carr wrote in his biography of the pianist, “with an apparently inexhaustible flow of rhythmic and melodic ideas, one of the most brilliant pianistic techniques of all, and the ability to project complex and profound feeling.”

Tracklisitng:

CD 1 – Kyoto, November 5, 1976

1. Kyoto - Part I

2. Kyoto - Part II

CD 2 – Osaka, November 8, 1976

1. Osaka - Part I

2. Osaka - Part II

CD 3 – Nagoya, November 12, 1976

1. Nagoya - Part I

2. Nagoya - Part II

CD 4 – Tokyo, November 14, 1976

1. Tokyo - Part I

2. Tokyo - Part II

CD 5 – Sapporo, November 18, 1976

1. Sapporo - Part I

2. Sapporo - Part II

CD 6 – Encores (Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya)

1. Sapporo - Encore

2. Tokyo - Encore

3. Nagoya - Encore

Boxset Dimensions: 5.25"x2.79"x5.62"