We are excited to celebrate today’s release of Keith Jarrett’s New Vienna, but we also want to shine a spotlight on other standout solo piano releases of 2025. By doing so, we hope to help you discover albums you may have missed or even challenge your ideas of what a solo piano recording can sound like and how it can make you feel.
Two Duos is an album by cellist Okkyung Lee, in duet with Jérôme Noetinger on Revox B77 for the first track, and with Nadia Ratsimandresy on Ondes Martenot for the second. It was recorded live at Cafe OTO, one of the best jazz clubs in London, England, on March 28 and 29, 2019, by Paul Skinner and Shaun Crook, and it was released on February 25, 2022, by Otoroku.
Read More
Space is the first release by the trio of Lisa Ullén, Elsa Bergman, and Anna Lund, after they met as part of the Anna Högberg Attack’s sextet and released the excellent Anna Högberg Attack (2016), followed by the fabulous Lena (2020), which was indisputably a must-have album of 2020. It was recorded by Mats Äleklint on January 13, 2021, at Fylkingen, in Stockholm, Sweden, and was released by Relative Pitch Records.
Read More
The 7th Hand is the second album by saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins, after the impressive and magnificent Omega (2020). For this release, Immanuel Wilkins kept the same quartet, with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums. The 7th Hand was released on January 28, 2022, by Blue Note Records..
Read More
2 Blues for Cecil is an album by drummer Andrew Cyrille, double-bassist William Parker, and flugelhornist Enrico Rava, in homage to the one and only Cecil Taylor. The music was recorded by Ludovic Lanen at Studios Ferber in Paris, France, on February 1 and 2, 2021, and the album was released on January 21, 2022, by TUM Records.
Read More
Flow of Everything is the third duet release by bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp, after their 2012 studio recording Floating Ice, and their 2015 live recording Live in Seattle. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered on April 5, 2021, at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, New York, and was released on January 21, 2022, by Fundacja Słuchaj Records.
Read MoreThis list provides an overview of all Keith Jarrett’s solo piano recordings, as well as all his solo piano concerts, and how much material ECM is still sitting on and will hopefully release someday.
Read More
Formation < Deviation is Cranes’ debut album, featuring Matthias Müller on trombone, Eve Risser on piano, and Christian Marien on drums. It was recorded at studioboerne45 in Berlin-Weissensee on November 11, 2017, and released on May 14, 2021 via Relative Pitch Records.
Read More
Winns Win is the new solo album by Evan Parker. It was released on October 1st, 2021, by Byrd Out. Winns Win is a solo album, inspired by the designer and activist William Morris, and it was recorded on September 21, 2020, at the William Morris Gallery on Winns Avenue, the site of William’s former house.
Read MoreKeith Jarrett was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in the ‘90s. In 1997, he had to stop touring, recording, and even playing the piano. 1998 marked the point at which Keith managed to heal, recover, and come back to playing.
Nearly 20 years later, at the beginning of 2018, Keith suffered two major strokes that were serious enough that he is still partly paralyzed and unable to play the piano with two hands. “I don’t know what my future is supposed to be,” he told the New York Times in October 2020. “I don’t feel, right now, like I’m a pianist.”
2017 marked his last solo piano live performance.
Read More