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Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an NEA Jazz Master

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times - universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Keith Jarrett began playing the piano at age 3 and undertook classical music studies throughout his youth; performing as a child in programs at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and at Madison Square Garden.

He undertook formal composition studies at age 15, before moving to Boston to briefly study at the Berklee College of Music. While still in his late teens, arrangements were made to study composition in Paris with the great pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, but then canceled at the last moment in favor of moving to New York in 1964 to play jazz.

After a tentative period sitting in at the Village Vanguard and other New York jazz spots, Jarrett toured first with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. From 1966 to 1968 he was the pianist with the Charles Lloyd Quartet which quickly became one of the most popular groups on the changing late-Sixties jazz scene with best-selling records and worldwide tours. He soon led his own trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian (which in 1972 expanded to a quartet with the addition of tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman). Then in 1970/71, Jarrett became a featured member in Miles Davis' electric fusion group, playing electric piano and organ - his last stint as a sideman, thereafter, dedicating himself exclusively to performing acoustic music as a solo artist and as a leader.

In 1971, Keith Jarrett began his recording collaboration with German producer Manfred Eicher and ECM Records (Editions of Contemporary Music). This fruitful collaboration has produced over 60 recordings to date, unparalleled in their scope, diversity, and quality. The foundation of the Jarrett/ECM discography is made up of the landmark solo piano recordings which have helped redefine the role of the piano in contemporary music. The piano improvisations on Facing You, Solo Concerts, The Köln Concert, Staircase, Sun Bear Concerts, Moth and The Flame, Concerts, Paris Concert, Dark Intervals, Vienna Concert, and La Scala incorporate a broad spectrum of musical idioms and languages - classical, jazz, ethnic, gospel, folk, blues and pure sound - revealing a creative process based on a deeply conscious state of awakeness and listening in the moment, producing music both deeply personal, yet universal. This body of solo piano work is without precedent with the Köln Concert being the best selling piano recording in history.

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Play This!

Keith Jarrett's European Quartet: Innocence

Read "Keith Jarrett's European Quartet: Innocence" reviewed by Scott Lichtman


It just so happens that two of the most poignant jazz ballads--in my opinion--were released in the same year. I'm not talking about throw-back masterpieces, such as Thelonious Monk's “Round Midnight" or Horace Silver's “Lonely Woman." Rather, they are Keith Jarrett's “Innocence" and Egberto Gismonti's “Palhaço," both originally issued in 1980. What makes these pieces stand out are their simple melodies; harmonic progressions with pop, not bebop, sensibilities; unexpected key modulations; and the nuanced musicianship of the supporting bands. Norwegian ...

68
Building a Jazz Library

The Keith Jarrett Trio: Ten Essential Recordings

Read "The Keith Jarrett Trio: Ten Essential Recordings" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


The Keith Jarrett Trio, or The Standards Trio, as it later became known, with Gary Peacock on double bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, is one of the most celebrated and influential jazz trios of all time. The group was formed in 1983 but Jarrett and DeJohnette had been collaborating since the late 1960s when they performed together in Miles Davis' band. The early version of the Jarrett trio featured Charlie Haden on bass, with Peacock coming in at the ...

23
Album Review

Keith Jarrett: Solo-Concerts Bremen Lausanne

Read "Solo-Concerts Bremen Lausanne" reviewed by Chris May


Here, in all its 2023 audiophile detail, and cut from the original analogue masters, is the 3xLP set which launched the extraordinary tale of Keith Jarrett's in-the-moment- improvised, in-concert solo albums. Arguably the most momentous of all the reissues in ECM's estimable Luminessence series, the Bremen and Lausanne concerts were recorded in March and July 1973 and released as a set in November that year, a synchronous fifty years precisely before this edition. The 2xLP The Köln ...

24
Album Review

Keith Jarrett: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Read "Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Keith Jarrett's affinity for the classics is well known. His solo piano and keyboard recordings in the genre include the music of Mozart, Shostakovich, Barber, Gurdjieff, Handel, Bartók, and others. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is Jarrett's sweet spot with eight recordings--mostly two-disc sets--dominating his classical portfolio. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, features the work of another Bach, Johann's son. ECM issues this previously unreleased 1994 material, consisting of eighteen sonatas, as part of an ongoing deep-dive into ...

27
Multiple Reviews

The Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden Duo Revisited

Read "The Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden Duo Revisited" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Keith Jarrett has enjoyed a long and productive career which eventually became dominated by his monumental improvised solo performances and his work with his Standards Trio, with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Along the way, he released albums by his now sometimes overlooked but excellent American and European Quartets. Revisiting almost everything in Jarrett's discography is rewarding, but his duo sessions with bassist Charlie Haden, recorded in 2007, especially so. These albums are Jasmine (ECM, ...

16
Album Review

Kenny Wheeler: Gnu High

Read "Gnu High" reviewed by Chris May


Trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer Kenny Wheeler's exalted Gnu High, first released in 1976, is one of two albums with which ECM launches its audiophile vinyl reissue series, Luminessence, on April 28, 2023. The Luminessence mission statement is to showcase albums that have “changed perceptions of creative music making." And few would dispute this summation of the first batch of releases (listed below). Some of the albums will be presented in facsimile editions, others--such as Gnu High--in gatefold ...

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Building a Jazz Library

ECM Records Touchstones: Part 2

Read "ECM Records Touchstones: Part 2" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 This second edition of “ECM Touchstones" explores more of the label's early recordings, repackaged and offered up as a way to present music that had perhaps slipped through time's cracks, into the hard-to-find category. Of these, four were re-released in 2019, one in 2008--32 to 43 years after their original releases. The music on these albums is stylistically diverse and uniformly excellent. All of it has stood the test of ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

1

Book / Magazine

All About Jazz Contributor Tyran Grillo's book Between Sound and Space: An ECM Records Primer, Available Now

All About Jazz Contributor Tyran Grillo's book Between Sound and Space: An ECM Records Primer, Available Now

Source: All About Jazz

A printed compilation of some of ECM’s finest albums to be released over its 50-year history, recorded by musicians from the USA, Norway, Brazil, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and many other countries. As an independent publisher, we are very happy to present our third English-language book and the first music book in our catalog: Between Sound and Space: An ECM Records Primer. Written by Tyran Grillo, it includes reviews of albums released by composers and performers such as Keith Jarrett, Chick ...

1

Recording

Keith Jarrett: Munich 2016

Keith Jarrett: Munich 2016

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Among pianist Keith Jarrett’s succession of solo concert albums going back more than four decades, Munich 2016 is remarkable even by his standards. The depth and variety of his improvisations make it so. Except for three standard songs here, he invented all of the music that he made three years ago in performance at Philharmonic Hall in Munich, Germany. It is heard as seven parts under the overall title “Munich.” Into those spontaneous compositions Jarrett integrates layer upon layer of ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

4

Education

Keith Jarrett’s Famed Composition “last Solo Final Impromptu” Launches The Frost School Of Music’s New Teaching Video Series Frost Music Masters

Keith Jarrett’s Famed Composition “last Solo Final Impromptu”  Launches The Frost School Of Music’s New Teaching Video Series  Frost Music Masters

Source: EastWest Media

The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami is proud to announce the launch of a new video series Frost Music Masters. This exciting project explores intricate musical conundrums, featuring members of our award-winning Frost School of Music faculty, giving tips and showing techniques for those wanting to take on challenging works.     The first video of the series, which officially launches, January 15, 2019 takes on legendary jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s famed composition “Last Solo Final Impromptu,” a ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Keith Jarrett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Keith Jarrett's birthday today!

Over the past 40 years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times- universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius; a master of jazz piano; a classical keyboardist of great depth; and as a composer who has written hundreds of pieces for his various jazz groups, plus extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, ...

4

Music Industry

Miles Davis is not Mozart: The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently

Miles Davis is not Mozart: The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently

Source: All About Jazz

This article first appeared on The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences website. A musician’s brain is different to that of a non-musician. Making music requires a complex interplay of various abilities which are also reflected in more strongly developed brain structures. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) in Leipzig have recently discovered that these capabilities are embedded in a much more finely-tuned way than previously assumed—and even differ ...

Brent Jensen
saxophone, alto
Gene Ess
guitar
Jef Neve
piano
Jerry Tachoir
vibraphone
Jake Hanlon
guitar
Chris Abelen
trombone
Tommy Smith
saxophone, tenor
Omar Sosa
piano
Jim Head
guitar
Pete McCann
guitar
David Witham
keyboards
Felipe Alonso
guitar, electric
Petros Klampanis
bass, acoustic
Mike Lorenz
guitar
Martin Fabricius
vibraphone
Oscar Penas
guitar
Apostolos Sideris
bass, acoustic
Rev Chris
piano
Laila Biali
piano and vocals
Bruno Schorp
bass, acoustic
Paul Unger
bass, acoustic
Majamisty TriO
band / ensemble / orchestra
Thomas Dahl
guitar
Matthias Broede
harmonica
Chet Chwalik
trumpet
Christian Doering
guitar, electric
Kari Antila
guitar, electric
Jorge Garcia
guitar, electric
Noshir Mody
guitar
Phil Wilkinson
organ, Hammond B3
Michael Lake
trombone
Michael Waldrop
multi-instrumentalist
Julian Hartwell
keyboards
Benjamin Boone
saxophone
Jason Kush
saxophone
Zac Zinger
saxophone, tenor
Alex Koo
piano
Toggi Jonsson
bass, acoustic
Jay Riley
saxophone, tenor
Tim Bruer
piano
Gregg Fine
guitar
Bruce Phares
bass, acoustic
Mavis Pan
piano
Lisipi
piano
José Canha
bass, acoustic
Kamil Abt
guitar
Muhammad Dawjee
saxophone
roman gomez
bandoneon
Johan Grim
guitar
Evgeny Abramov
keyboards
Alex Hand
guitar
David Cain
multi-instrumentalist
Barba Negri Ziliani
band / ensemble / orchestra
Pepito Montes
piano and vocals
Yulia
piano
Lucas Amorim
vibraphone
Kahoma Trio
band / ensemble / orchestra
Hallgrim Bratberg
guitar, electric
German Lema
organ, Hammond B3
Gerhard Daum
composer / conductor
Erlend Albertsen Basspace
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gnu High

ECM Records
2023

buy

Bordeaux Concert

ECM Records
2022

buy

Budapest Concert

ECM Records
2020

buy

Munich 2016

ECM Records
2019

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Videos

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