Arbour Zena is an orchestral work composed by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett which was recorded in October 1975 and released by ECM the following year. The trio features saxophonist Jan Garbarek and bassist Charlie Haden backed by members of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mladen Gutesha.[1]
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 3 stars and said, "although this music can be attractive in small doses, the lack of tempo or texture contrasts over long stretches of time—particularly the nearly 28-minute "Mirrors"—can be annoying if you're not in the right blissful mood."[2]
Reviewing the album for the website All About Jazz, John Kelman said:
Jarrett had already released music more aligned with the classical sphere on 1974's In the Light, which contained works for string quartet and brass quintet, a fughata for harpsichord and more; but it was with Arbour Zena—reuniting the pianist with the string section Stuttgart's Südfunk Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mladen Gutesha (who'd performed In the Light's "Metamorphosis")—that Jarrett found the magic nexus between composition and improvisation, both through his own contributions on piano and with the participation of Haden and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, also making the record an even broader marriage of his European and American concerns.[7]
All tracks are written by Keith Jarrett