Spirits is the odd one out in Keith Jarrett's catalogue: a double album of twenty-six short pieces made entirely alone, with the piano kept almost out of sight. Over the summer of 1985 he layered flutes, recorders, tablas, soprano saxophone, guitar, percussion and his own voice into simple, folk-like melodies. The liner notes say plainly that "the music was not recorded with the intention of release to the public". It appeared all the same in September 1986, after four trio albums with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette.
The recordings were made between May and July 1985 at Cavelight Studio, Jarrett's own studio at his home in New Jersey, on cassette recorders rather than professional studio machines. Besides piano, guitar, soprano saxophone and voice, the ECM credits list a Pakistani flute, a Vermont "folk" flute and recorders. The percussion runs from tablas and shakers to a double cowbell, with a miniature glockenspiel and a saz. The tapes were digitally remixed and edited at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg with engineer Martin Wieland. Jarrett produced the album with Manfred Eicher and dedicated it "For Rose Anne".
Most of the pieces have no improvised passages at all, which is the first surprise for anyone who knows the solo concerts. When the piano does appear, it usually sits in the background as an anchor. In Spirits 2 the theme is played by recorder and Pakistani flute in unison. Spirits 13 is one of the few that opens up, a percussive track in which Jarrett sets spare, bird-like flute phrases against the rhythm. Elsewhere, as in Spirits 20, plain melodies are wrapped in whispers and drones until they take on an air of mystery. The guitar is often played more like a sitar, and Jarrett's chanting hovers at the edge of words.
The album divided listeners. Reviewing it in 1987 for the Christian Science Monitor, Amy Duncan found much of it repetitive and hoped Jarrett would return to the trio. Two decades later Tom Moon of NPR called it "a transfixing two-disc vision quest", one of Jarrett's "unfairly disregarded" records. For Tyran Grillo of ECM Reviews, "by far his most colorful release, it marks a shift in method".
This is the double CD edition on ECM Records, catalogue number ECM 1333/34, in a slim double jewel case. Spirits was first released in September 1986.
