Recorded quietly at his home studio while Keith Jarrett was slowly recovering from the chronic fatigue syndrome that had silenced him for two years, The Melody At Night, With You is among the most tender, fragile and personal albums he has ever made. Originally taped privately as a gift for his wife, the recording was never conceived as a commercial release, and that intimacy is audible in every note. Stripped of any trace of virtuosic display, Jarrett plays a selection of standards, ballads and folk songs with disarming simplicity and warmth, letting the melodies speak almost entirely for themselves. There is no improvisational fireworks here, no extended flights; instead there is a profound restraint, a sense of a great musician returning to the essence of why he plays at all. Pieces such as "I Loves You Porgy," "Don't Ever Leave Me" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" are rendered with such quiet devotion that they feel less like performances than confidences. The occasional imperfection only deepens the sense of vulnerability and honesty. Hushed, deeply moving and utterly without ego, The Melody At Night, With You is solo piano reduced to its emotional core, and for many listeners one of the most beautiful and consoling records in Jarrett's vast discography.

That it emerged from a period of genuine physical hardship only adds to its quiet power, a document of healing as much as of music. On vinyl its intimacy is heightened still further, the format's warmth wrapping around each ballad like the private, late-night setting in which it was conceived.