Keith Jarrett specializes in surprises. His youthful stints with the bands of Miles Davis and Charles Lloyd put him at ground zero of the jazz-rock fusion movement. Then, in the 1970s, he unplugged his keyboards and started giving the totally improvised, all-acoustic solo concerts that established him as the most individual (and successful) jazz pianist of his generation. The '80s saw him recording arrestingly fresh versions of pop ballads with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette--as well as Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on piano and harpsichord.
Now comes The Melody at Night, with You (ECM), a superlative album that at first...