Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is considered one of the most important living jazz piano players. His career started as a keyboardist for Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has enjoyed a great deal of success in both classical and jazz music, as a group leader and a solo performer.

Idiosyncrasies

One of Jarrett's trademarks is his frequent, highly audible vocalization (grunting, groaning, and tuneless singing), similar to that of Glenn Gould, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. Jarrett is also physically active while playing, practically dancing on the piano bench. These behaviors occur in his jazz and improvised solo performances, but are absent whenever he plays classical repertory.

Related Topics:
Glenn Gould - Thelonious Monk - Charles Mingus - Kurt Rosenwinkel

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Jarrett is notoriously intolerant of audience noise, especially during solo improvised performances, where he feels that extraneous noise affects his musical inspiration.

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Jarrett's liner notes for the 1973 album Solo Concerts: Bremen / Lausanne state: I am, and have been, carrying on an anti-electric-music crusade of which this is an exhibit for the prosecution. Electricity goes through all of us and is not to be relegated to wires. He has largely eschewed electric or electronic instruments since his time with Miles Davis.

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Jarrett, for many years, has been a follower of the teachings of metaphysicist and mystic G. I. Gurdjieff.

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