The Melody at Night, with You

It was recorded during his bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and was dedicated to Jarrett's second and then-wife, Rose Anne: "For Rose Anne, who heard the music, then gave it back to me."Jarrett's foreword in the album's booklet

In an interview in Time magazine in November 1999, he explained:

I started taping it in December 1997, as a Christmas present for my wife. I'd just had my Hamburg Steinway overhauled and wanted to try it out, and I have my studio right next to the house, so if I woke up and had a half-decent day, I would turn on the tape recorder and play for a few minutes. I was too fatigued to do more. Then something started to click with the mike placement, the new action of the instrument,... I could play so soft,... and the internal dynamics of the melodies... of the songs... It was one of those little miracles that you have to be ready for, though part of it was that I just didn't have the energy to be clever.Terry Teachout (November 1999) [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992486,00.html Music: Directly from the Heart] Time (subscribers only)

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{rating|2.5|5}}

| rev2 = DownBeat

| rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=https://downbeat.com/microsites/ecm-jarrett/post_R7.html |title=Keith Jarrett: The Melody At Night, With You |last=Ephland |first=John |date=December 1999 |website=DownBeat |access-date=January 23, 2022}}

| rev3 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite book|last1=Cook|first1=Richard|author-link1=Richard Cook (journalist)|last2=Morton|first2=Brian|author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|year=2008|title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings|edition=9th|publisher=Penguin|page=770|isbn=978-0-141-03401-0}}

}}

The album was commercially successful, becoming one of the best-selling jazz instrumental albums of the 2000s, and winning a number{{Which|date=December 2023}} of awards.[http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=7984 Keith Jarrett Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615000741/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=7984 |date=2010-06-15 }}, All About Jazz accessed April 6, 2010 "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2001/music/news/43rd-annual-grammy-nomination-list-1117791238 |title=43rd Annual Grammy Nomination List|author= |date=January 2, 2001 |website=Variety |access-date=January 23, 2022}}

The critical reception was more mixed, however, with some critics praising its intimacy, while others criticized its simplicity.

On the negative side, the AllMusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 2½ stars (out of 5) and states, "these performances lack color, contrast and life; and while you pull for Jarrett to summon the energy to make music again, the results are touching for a while but soon pall."Ginell, R. S. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r442047|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic Review] accessed July 6, 2020

On the positive side, it was ranked the No. 2 Jazz album in the DownBeat "Critics Poll 2000",DownBeat (8/00, p.27), losing by 1 vote to Soul on Soul by (Dave Douglas) and Entertainment Weekly rated it an A.Entertainment Weekly, issue #512, Nov 12, 1999, p. 83See [http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1178879/a/Melody+At+Night,+With+You.htm Keith Jarrett Melody At Night, With You CD] for a selection of reviews.Further reviews: Q (2/00, p.90), 4 stars out of 5; DownBeat (8/00, p.27); JazzTimes (1-2/00, pp. 95–6)

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 4 stars, calling it "a record of fragile magnificence, a sequence of filigreed songs from a common musical past... It is a quite simply magnificent record, swinging in a way that Jarrett has rarely before been swinging... and sweetly melodic." Writing for DownBeat, John Ephland commented: "the playing on this solo-piano recording is subdued, but does not lack for earnestness, passion or focus. The music is exquisite, unnerving and disarming, as the virtuoso bypasses flourish, instead choosing to speak plainly."

1. "I Loves You, Porgy" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Dubose Heyward) – 5:50
2. "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" (Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster) – 7:10
3. "Don't Ever Leave Me" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) – 2:47
4. "Someone to Watch over Me" (Gershwin, Gershwin) – 5:05
5. "My Wild Irish Rose" (Traditional) – 5:21
6. "Blame It on My Youth/Meditation" (Edward Heyman, Oscar Levant/Jarrett) – 7:19
7. "Something to Remember You By" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) – 7:15
8. "Be My Love" (Nicholas Brodszky, Sammy Cahn) – 5:38
9. "Shenandoah" (Traditional) – 5:52
10. "I'm Through with Love" (Gus Kahn, Fud Livingston, Matty Malneck) – 2:56

• Keith Jarrett – piano

• Manfred Eicher – producer
• Keith Jarrett – producer, engineer
• Sascha Kleis – design
• Daniela Nowitzki – cover photography
• Rose Anne Jarrett – liner photography

{{reflist}}

• "[http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=4503 The Melody at Night, With You]" – review in All About Jazz, Glenn Astarita, November 1, 1999
• "[http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=4791 The Melody at Night, With You]" – review in All About Jazz, David Adler, December 1, 1999
• [http://jazztimes.com/articles/10796-the-melody-at-night-with-you-keith-jarrett Keith Jarrett, "The Melody at Night, With You", ECM Records] – review in JazzTimes, Doug Ramsey, January/February 2000
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101126091718/http://www.ecmrecords.com/Catalogue/ECM/1600/1675.php ECM 1675] – publisher page ([http://www.ecmrecords.com/Background/Background_1675.php Album background])
• [http://www.keithjarrett.org/transcriptions/ Transcriptions]
• "[http://www.keithjarrett.org/wp-content/uploads/mywildirishrose.pdf My Wild Irish Rose]", transcribed by Evilásio Vilar
• "[http://www.keithjarrett.org/wp-content/uploads/shenandoah.pdf Shenandoah]", transcribed by Douglas Gould

{{Keith Jarrett}}

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Category:ECM Records albums

Category:Keith Jarrett albums

Category:1999 albums

Category:Albums produced by Manfred Eicher

Category:1990s instrumental albums

Category:Solo piano jazz albums