Facing You is where one of the most celebrated chapters in modern music began: Keith Jarrett's first solo piano album for ECM, recorded in 1971 at the very start of his long association with the label. In a single inspired session, Jarrett laid down a sequence of spontaneous compositions of startling melodic and rhythmic invention, music that seems to spring fully formed from the moment of its creation. The seeds of everything that would follow are here: the gospel-tinged vamps, the surging left-hand ostinatos, the long lyrical melodies and the seamless movement between composition and improvisation that would reach their apotheosis in the legendary solo concerts, The Köln Concert chief among them. Yet Facing You is no mere prototype; it is a fully realized masterpiece in its own right, more concise and structured than the later improvised concerts but no less inventive. Across its eight pieces Jarrett ranges from delicate introspection to ecstatic momentum, displaying the harmonic richness, rhythmic drive and sheer melodic generosity that would make him one of the most influential pianists of his era.

Intimate, joyful and endlessly rewarding, it stands as both a foundational document of the ECM catalogue and one of the most important solo piano recordings in all of jazz. Its influence on a generation of pianists who followed cannot be overstated, and it set the template for the unaccompanied recital as a serious artistic form. This vinyl edition returns the album to its original format, its warmth, dynamics and immediacy fully restored for both longtime admirers and new listeners.