Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden - Jasmine (2010)

As close to a direct pipeline to the heart as anything, it's hard for music to be anything but intimate reflection of events transpiring in a musician's life. Pianist Keith Jarrett's last release—the stunning triple-disc Testament—Paris / London (ECM, 2009)—was, self-admittedly, impacted by the pianist's "incredibly vulnerable emotional state," but resulted in some of his deepest, most moving solo improvisations yet. Recorded in 2007, the year before the shows from which Testament was culled, the song choices on Jasmine—Jarrett's first non-solo/non-Standards Trio disc in 30 years—speak to the pianist's tenuous marital situation of the past several years. And yet, this collection of intimate, yearning love songs—recorded at Jarrett's home in an informal setting not unlike The Melody At Night, With You (ECM, 1999)—possesses a bittersweet mix of melancholy and joy, suggesting the inherently healing power of music...............