Great Performers: Keith Jarrett
In 1977, the late writer Frank Conroy brought up a conversation with Arthur Rubinstein, where the recently retired keyboard icon was asked if there were any young pianists on the scene that he liked. Rubinstein apparently replied, "Yes, Keith Jarrett." This was not long after Jarrett’s breakthrough 1975 'Köln Concert' had become an unexpected bestseller. It eventually became the best-selling solo piano recording of all time. Yet you couldn’t pigeonhole the music at all. Was it jazz or classical? Traditional or avant-garde? Or all of the above?
Read more…Born on 8 May 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the classically trained Jarrett gave his first public recital at age six. At 16, he turned down an opportunity to study composition with the renowned Nadia Boulanger, pursuing instead his serious interest in jazz. In 1966 Jarrett joined multi-reed instrumentalist Charles Lloyd's quartet, whose freewheeling eclecticism provided an ideal outlet for the young pianist's gifts, and earned him critical raves.
After a two year stint with Miles Davis’s electrically oriented ensemble, Jarrett reclaimed the concert grand, and launched his long association with the ECM label and producer Manfred Eicher. He began playing solo piano concerts, usually consisting of two parts, each encompassing a long, uninterrupted musical entity, extemporized from scratch, with no pre-planning whatsoever. Still, certain stylistic fingerprints often emerged over the course of a Jarrett improvisation: long-lined melodies evoking anyone from Fauré to Stephen Foster, driving ostinatos that either looked back to "old school" boogie-woogie or foreshadowed minimalism, or rhapsodic flourishes recalling Scriabin and Stockhausen. To everything he touched Jarrett not only brought remarkable virtuosity, but also a clearly defined and instantly identifiable sonority and sophisticated control of pedalling and dynamics. All of this was accompanied by pronounced vocal grimaces and outward gesticulation, with the pianist occasionally standing up as he played.
By the early 1980s, Jarrett was devoting considerable time to classical repertoire on disc and in concert. His most convincing interpretations generally involved 20th-century fare, such as Bartók’s Third Concerto, the concertos by Samuel Barber and Lou Harrison, and the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich. By contrast, critical consensus was divided over Jarrett’s Mozart Concertos, although few pianists can match his stylishly invigorating Handel Suites. As for Bach, Jarrett divided his attention between the piano and harpsichord. In contrast to his notorious platform manner while improvising, Jarrett sat quietly still while reading scores.
Although one cannot honestly say that the freedom and inventiveness of Jarrett’s jazz side informed his classical playing, the pianist freely admitted that his immersion in classical repertoire had noticeable impact on his jazz playing in regard to levels of dynamic shading and myriad refinements of touch and finger control. In the late 1990s Jarrett was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and unable to leave his home for long stretches of time. He began touring again in 2000 with longtime trio band mates bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, resuming solo concerts two years later. By this time he had eschewed his older format in favor of improvising shorter, more concise and markedly contrasted solo pieces that, in turn, inspired Jarrett on to new creative and pianistic heights. That said, Jarrett considered his 1992 Vienna Concert to be his greatest achievement: "I have courted the fire for a very long time, and many sparks have flown in the past, but the music on this recording speaks, finally, the language of the flame itself."