Any Keith Jarrett fans here?

[rh]

good score amar! that's just what i was thinking of!

[bradhurley]

Not as bad as Tori Amos, mind you, but it still puts me off.

Why does Tori Amos put you off?

Because she's basically having sex with her piano. I enjoyed listening to her on the radio when her first CD came out, but then I saw her in performance (on TV) and it totally turned me off. Her acting destroyed her music for me, because it was so clearly a "performance" and it distracted attention from the music itself.

[Jerry Freeman]

I saw Kieth Jarrett perform on television and had the same impression: frenetic, overly dramatic performance, though amazingly talented. That was my only exposure 'til I listened to the interview I posted above.

Jarrett became sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was unable to play at all for two years. He found he couldn't even listen to music for much of that time.

When he began listening to his own recordings again, he heard things he didn't like and completely retooled his style. (There are some samples of his more recent work in the interview.) The illness forced him to develop a less flamboyant, more economical, more meditative style.

I'm curious to know whether anyone has listened to stuff he's recorded since he returned from his illness and what your impressions are of his more recent work.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[lonewhistler]

...I've only got one album of Keith Jarrett: "Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note - June 4th, 1994" Really good album. Joining Keith on the recording are Gary Peacock (double-bass), and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Since I'm not familiar with any of Keith's other albums, I'm not certain on how to compare this album with any of his other works.

[oleorezinator]

In his generation, the pianists I really like are Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. I've listened to Jarrett and admire his technique but I've never got past first impressions which were pretty negative. I first heard him on the Charles Lloyd album Forest Flower which was something of a hippy favourite in it's day. I thought it was grotesquely self indulgent at the time and I still find it unlistenable. Lloyd played earlier with Gabor Szabo both in the Chico Hamilton group and later in his own band. They made some superb records, especially Passin' Thru', and an earlier shorter version of Forest Flower is very focused and impressive.

I've tried listening to the solo Jarrett but the impression of self indulgence remains.

i recently relistened to jarrett's "expectations"after 30 years and arrived at the same conclusion. but perhaps this is music to be heard live rather than recorded. he is of course a fabulous musician.

[FJohnSharp]

I'll tell you, it's hard to buy a Jarrett CD because you never know what you're going to get, except for fantastic piano playing.

I have a book, and the author says this (paraphrasing) If Keith Jarrett had died at age 30, he'd be considered one of the great jazz pianists of all tme. But since he was incomsiderate enough to live longer he's tarnished his image with the jazz purists by going off all sorts of directions. Supposedly he never knew what he was going to play in a concert until he sat down. It could be jazz or classical or country or pop. And for that, the jazz police have banished him.

The author has this quote, which I love

"If jazz isn't big enough to include Keith Jarrett, it's jazz's loss."

[Doug_Tipple]

I enjoy the album "The Melody at Night With You". It is a solo piano ablum with tunes by Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jarrett, et al. This post illness album is disappointing to his jazz fans because he is playing the tunes incredibly strainghtforward, but with an incredible sense of timing. Bottom line: I like it.

[tuaz]

I only have 2 albums by him. I thought "The Koln Concert" was a bit long and boring except for the last (and shortest!) track. "Fort Yahwuh" (not a solo album) is actually quite enjoyable.

I have never seen him live, altho I saw snippets of him (among other musicians) playing Bach in a TV documentary about Bach many years ago.

[Jack]

Not as bad as Tori Amos, mind you, but it still puts me off.

Why does Tori Amos put you off?

Because she's basically having sex with her piano. I enjoyed listening to her on the radio when her first CD came out, but then I saw her in performance (on TV) and it totally turned me off. Her acting destroyed her music for me, because it was so clearly a "performance" and it distracted attention from the music itself.

I don't think her enthusiasm with her piano is a bad thing, or a "performance". I very much enjoy her piano playing and her live performances. When you consider that most of her material deals with rape, domestic violence, molestation, and the like, it becomes clear that if she didn't really get into her music in that way, it would do it a disservice. You can't be blasé and casual singing about rape.

[Zubivka]

Jarrett ? Most famous player they ever had in Cologne.

True, FC "Fortuna" Köln was broke, so they couldn't afford Beckenbauer. Nor J-L Lewis. *

Who only remembers? I recently visited Köln, so I asked for their famous "Jarrett de Cologne".
Well? I got a Schweine-Achse -- instead of a Jarrett Köln Concert it's a jarret de porc qu'on sert.
Köln Concert, my achse: a bloody pork foot!
Must be my achsent: I hardly speak Kölsch. I barley even drink it. Barley-vous français ?

* Now he was good, especially for a foot-note

[Dale]

I'm a fan, although you can't be a Jarrett fan without having a few albums he did that you despise. He has been all over the map.

My 3 favorites, though, cut across various styles;

The Koln Concert. I love the whole thing, but someone pointed out the encore (third track) which is amazing.

The Melody, the Night, Etc. This was moving because you know he is getting over this devastating illness and there's something both beautiful and naive about it. None of the famous Jarrett cockiness.

The newest one with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, "The Out of Towners," is wonderful and the encore on this one is Jarrett solo, playing "It's All In The Game." It's gorgeous.

Dale

[Dale]

Speaking of the whole Chronic Fatigue/Epstein-Barr thing--If you want to read a really harrowing story about this (it's sort of about this) read:

http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/Hillenbrand.html

An absolutely stunning read.

Dale

[Dale]

The illness forced him to develop a less flamboyant, more economical, more meditative style.

I'm curious to know whether anyone has listened to stuff he's recorded since he returned from his illness and what your impressions are of his more recent work.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I like it a lot. I'd not say more or less, it's just different. He has improved enough physically that he can keep up with his trio-mates and do solid jazz playing, but there is still something different about the new work.

THere's been a lot of discussion among his fans about his vocalizations and wild physical behavior in the old days. He still emits a sort of high pitched whining sound occasionally. But, before his illness, I think a few of his recordings with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette were essentially ruined by the noise he was making.

Hey. Maybe Jarrett and Tori Amos ought to date.

Dale

[amar]

The illness forced him to develop a less flamboyant, more economical, more meditative style.

I'm curious to know whether anyone has listened to stuff he's recorded since he returned from his illness and what your impressions are of his more recent work.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I like it a lot. I'd not say more or less, it's just different. He has improved enough physically that he can keep up with his trio-mates and do solid jazz playing, but there is still something different about the new work.



THere's been a lot of discussion among his fans about his vocalizations and wild physical behavior in the old days. He still emits a sort of high pitched whining sound occasionally. But, before his illness, I think a few of his recordings with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette were essentially ruined by the noise he was making.

Hey. Maybe Jarrett and Tori Amos ought to date.

Dale

yeah, and glenn gould too, if he were still around. my personal bach favourite.

[Wombat]

I have a book, and the author says this (paraphrasing) If Keith Jarrett had died at age 30, he'd be considered one of the great jazz pianists of all tme. But since he was incomsiderate enough to live longer he's tarnished his image with the jazz purists by going off all sorts of directions. Supposedly he never knew what he was going to play in a concert until he sat down. It could be jazz or classical or country or pop. And for that, the jazz police have banished him.

I honestly didn't get the impression that a single dissenting opinion here was driven by jazz purism. The only charge I've ever heard—and I know plenty of jazz purists—is that of self indulgence, or something very close to that. And that's exactly what people are saying here.

The author has this quote, which I love

"If jazz isn't big enough to include Keith Jarrett, it's jazz's loss."

Has anyone really said he's no good because he isn't jazz? Who said that? I hope the author is big enough to regard the jazz world as enriched by the presence of jazz fans for whom Keith Jarrett is not to their taste.

I'm not anti-Jarrett. I might even come one day to like him. I just find those comments distastefully inaccurate and condescending.