Keith Jarrett - Life Without the Piano

[Tenor Freak]

Looks as though Keith Jarrett has hung up his piano for good after suffering two strokes in 2018.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/arts/music/keith-jarrett-piano.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR09YSIWcKRzfGxPXu1OPC-duSCE7JJHJG8AUKWU-3sSg8lAG7v_BlfbXVE

Hope he can recover but judging by the article, it's not likely.

[Richard Barrett]

Looks as though Keith Jarrett has hung up his piano for good after suffering two strokes in 2018.

Hope he can recover but judging by the article, it's not likely.

The article is hidden behind a Murdoch paywall, but yes this is very sad. Still, his recorded output is larger than most people manage in a lifetime. Actually your thread title reminded me that the other day I was listening to his album No End, and wondering what the jazz buffs here might think of it. I've tried a couple of times but haven't managed to listen through both discs; after a couple of tracks of the first one I get the feeling that the music is going nowhere, it isn't particularly inventive nor is there the level of sheer skill that sometimes keeps me listening to his piano recordings when I feel he's in a holding pattern structurally. But maybe I'm missing something.

[Joseph K]

No paywall for me, but there's not a lot to say. It is sad: only his right-hand works and he had forgotten how to play bebop tunes. Brief overview of his career etc.

For me, his standards trio is where it's at regarding his playing, that and his time with Miles. I think I probably checked out the Koln Concert once or twice. Does anyone have any recommendations outside of what I've already mentioned?

[Richard Barrett]

For me, his standards trio is where it's at regarding his playing, that and his time with Miles. I think I probably checked out the Koln Concert once or twice. Does anyone have any recommendations outside of what I've already mentioned?

My favourite of his solo albums was always Staircase, also Bremen/Lausanne which is in a similar vein to the Cologne set but a lot more interesting I think, particularly the last piece which gradually gets more and more jagged and atonal before collapsing into a quiet ballad as a coda. There are also some fantastic things on Sun Bear Concerts but I don't remember where, given that it used to take up 10 LPs!

[Joseph K]

Thanks.

[cloughie]

The article is hidden behind a Murdoch paywall, but yes this is very sad. Still, his recorded output is larger than most people manage in a lifetime. Actually your thread title reminded me that the other day I was listening to his album No End, and wondering what the jazz buffs here might think of it. I've tried a couple of times but haven't managed to listen through both discs; after a couple of tracks of the first one I get the feeling that the music is going nowhere, it isn't particularly inventive nor is there the level of sheer skill that sometimes keeps me listening to his piano recordings when I feel he's in a holding pattern structurally. But maybe I'm missing something.

Looks like you’ll have to abandon plans for Jarrett plays Barrett album then Richard!

[Richard Barrett]

Looks like you’ll have to abandon plans for Jarrett plays Barrett album then Richard!

My oeuvre is a bit short on jazz standards too (so far).

Anyway, back on the serious note that we started on: given that he's composed a few pieces for orchestra in the past, often including himself as soloist, I imagine he will probably be spending more time on that sort of thing.

[antongould]

Very sad ...... a great artist in my opinion .......

[Ian Thumwood]

I am really shocked by this news as Keith Jarrett has been part of my jazz listening experience for so long. Without doubt, he has been one of the most significant and high profile jazz musicians over the last fifty years whilst never really being either mainstream or avant garde. In some respects, he is almost his own oeuvre. He is a player who is really difficult to categorise and one who I have found to be totally compelling as well as maddeningly frustrating too. (In fact, I think you can find this trait on individual numbers, the spark of inspiration being lost and mind numbing monotony following as he drives an idea in to the ground. A good example of this is "You don't know what love is" on the otherwise fabulous Deer Head album.) The same can be said for earlier albums like "Fort Yawuh" with the American quartet which probably represented Jarrett's best avant credentials. Not heard "Survivor's Suite" which is supposed to be superb.

I saw the standard's trio once in London and was a little bit disappointed as my expectations were so high. Not sure I would have wanted to see him live again after all the horror stories I have heard about him and of which I was totally unaware at the time. There are few musicians who probably wear the heart on their sleeves as much as Keith Jarrett and the risky nature of long form improvisations makes it probable that there are moments when he is not going to be in the zone. On the moments when the music is really happening, I have to say that he is sensational and I am a big fan. His standards trio swings in a very traditional fashion which is increasingly less valued today although I think the more interesting of today's players are starting to value this more. When I first discovered his trio, the comparisons were made along the lines that he had evolved from the classic Bill Evans trio and I have always found this a little difficult to understand. If he has precedents, I really think a good example is Hampton Hawes' "Green leaves of summer" which almost sounds like a proto-Jarrett trio. Jarrett's trio was really about spinning out an improvised line and seeing how far you could take things. At it's finest, I just feel that this trio took some beating.

The solo stuff is more mixed, I feel. I love "Koln" but something like "Dark Intervals" is impenetrable and was a salutary experience for me at the time. Technically brilliant, it can sound a bit precocious, cold and mechanical. I am not 100% sure the solo stuff is always jazz and the "Dark Intervals" experience put me off listening to his later recordings in this style. I believe the earlier solo stuff from 1970s is much better whereas the later stuff sometimes evolves in to a portentousness that, at it's worse, reminds me a lot of the clunky piano of Elton John. Having said that, if I had to describe his solo work in one word it would be "honest." As an improvisor, I feel that Jarrett can take a while to get in the "zone" and when he is playing at that peak, he is incredible. However, I think that a pianist like Paul Bley is more succinct and get his message across almost immediately. With Jarrett, the moments of inspiration are worth the wait.

As far as recommendations are concerned, I think the trio discs choice probably depend on what songs he is playing. I love this trio and think it is sad that it is no more. The two stand out records for me would be "Our song" with Jan Garbarek which is just about as essential as you can get for a jazz album and the live album by the same Scandinavian band called "Personal mountains" which is incredible and has Garbarek's best playing on record. I just think these two discs are amazing and good enough to cement Jarrett's reputation as one of the greatest jazz pianists. "Koln" is a classic but have no idea regarding the other solo efforts.

The one album I remember reading a lot about was the solo record "Spirits" which exercised a lot of Jazz Journal readers in the mid 1980s. For a record so controversial and vilified by purists at the time, it seems strange that it is so forgotten these days. Jarrett largely played percussion and flutes on this record (he is also a surprisingly good soprano sax player) and was such a departure from what was expected that the release of what was a cathartic recording for Jarrett sparked hot debate. In fact, controversial records might be a decent topic for a future thread or maybe JRR. "Spirits" earned Jarrett a lot of notoriety at the time.

[Rcartes]

Looks like you’ll have to abandon plans for Jarrett plays Barrett album then Richard!

Irrelevant here, but I had a friend whose life's aim was to persuade Barry Harris to record an album of Barry Harris plays Harry Barris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Barris).

[Richard Barrett]

"Our song" with Jan Garbarek which is just about as essential as you can get for a jazz album

You mean My Song surely. (The title track of which is a group version of the solo ballad at the end of Bremen/Lausanne I referred to before.)

[Rcartes]

The two stand out records for me would be "Our song" with Jan Garbarek which is just about as essential as you can get for a jazz album and the live album by the same Scandinavian band called "Personal mountains" which is incredible and has Garbarek's best playing on record. I just think these two discs are amazing and good enough to cement Jarrett's reputation as one of the greatest jazz pianists.

Agreed about the European Quartet with Jan Garbarek (though I never got to like Garbarek, especially for his rather nasty tone), but I'd add Belonging as the other Quartet studio album.

But the real gems, I think, are by the Standards trio: so many terrific albums, but the standout for me has always been the Tokyo '96 set: some wonderful material on it, especially I'll Remember April (his first solo is excellent but the second one, when anyone else would have just played it out, is sublime), Summer Night and Last Night When We Were Young/Caribbean Sky.

[LHC]

No paywall for me, but there's not a lot to say. It is sad: only his right-hand works and he had forgotten how to play bebop tunes. Brief overview of his career etc.

For me, his standards trio is where it's at regarding his playing, that and his time with Miles. I think I probably checked out the Koln Concert once or twice. Does anyone have any recommendations outside of what I've already mentioned?

I think it’s already been mentioned, but Survivors Suite is a fantastic album. The combination of Jarret, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian is very special, and the album is at once mysterious, exciting and majestic. I bought the LP when it first came out and played it constantly for years. If you haven’t heard it, I would recommend it strongly.

[Joseph K]

I think it’s already been mentioned, but Survivors Suite is a fantastic album. The combination of Jarret, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian is very special, and the album is at once mysterious, exciting and majestic. I bought the LP when it first came out and played it constantly for years. If you haven’t heard it, I would recommend it strongly.

Thanks.

[Pulcinella]

No paywall for me, but there's not a lot to say. It is sad: only his right-hand works and he had forgotten how to play bebop tunes. Brief overview of his career etc.

For me, his standards trio is where it's at regarding his playing, that and his time with Miles. I think I probably checked out the Koln Concert once or twice. Does anyone have any recommendations outside of what I've already mentioned?

I can't give any recommendations, not having heard them, but this Presto listing of recordings in which he is the pianist is quite interesting:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8060945--barber-bartok-keith-jarrett

I knew about the Goldbergs and the Shostakovich, but not others (Handel sonatas with Petri, for example).
Or this, with the Barber Piano concerto and Bartok 3 (though with mixed reviews):

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8060945--barber-bartok-keith-jarrett