Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen

CD version. Belonging is the first album by the quartet that Keith Jarrett formed with three Scandinavian musicians, a group later known as his European Quartet. Released by ECM in 1974, it rests on Jarrett's own tunes and on the immediate rapport of four players who had barely worked together. The Gramophone Jazz CD Guide later wrote that it gave its name to the band and set new standards for quartet jazz.

Jarrett plays piano, Jan Garbarek tenor and soprano saxophone, Palle Danielsson bass and Jon Christensen drums. The album was made on 24 and 25 April 1974 at Arne Bendiksen Studio in Oslo, with Jan Erik Kongshaug as engineer and Manfred Eicher as producer. Jarrett insisted on first takes, to keep the spirit of the pieces above polish, and Garbarek later called it the fastest album he had ever made. All six compositions are Jarrett's, written with the strengths of these particular players in mind. The cover photograph, a bright open sky, is by Tadayuki Naitoh.

The record alternates three long, yearning ballads with three fast, propulsive tunes. Spiral Dance opens it with Garbarek doubling the theme with precision over a buoyant pulse, and Blossom, over twelve minutes, includes a melodic bass solo by Danielsson. 'Long As You Know You're Living Yours runs just over six minutes, pure Jarrett in its melody, and leaves Garbarek plenty of room to stretch out. The Windup rides on Christensen's rollicking snare, and the album closes with the thirteen-minute ballad Solstice.

At the time, in Melody Maker, Steve Lake wrote that the band sounded "as though the quartet has been together for a decade rather than a matter of days". In his biography of Jarrett, Ian Carr placed it "with the greatest quartet recordings in jazz", citing the compositions, the interplay and the focus of all four improvisers. The album has kept its standing. In 2025 the Branford Marsalis Quartet released a full reinterpretation of every piece on it.

This is the CD edition of ECM 1050, first released in 1974. The same quartet went on to record further studio and live albums for ECM.