Keith Jarrett: The Man and His Music

Although my last serious phase of Keith Jarrett music was nearly 3 years ago, I decided to read Ian Carr's biography of Jarrett to gain new insights or find critical opinion on his life and music. Unfortunately, Carr is too much of a fan boy to offer criticism, but the detailed biography does describe key moments of Jarrett's life and music from his birth to the end of the 1980s. Jarrett's background in Allentown, Pennsylvania or his early years of struggle to 'make it' as a musician will be familiar to all students of jazz biography. The journey of self-discovery, finding one's voice, and "making it" are universal experiences. 

For Jarrett, who was asked to leave Berklee, his big chance was finally getting to sit in at the Village Vanguard, which led to an engagement with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Then, during the 1960s, his time with the Charles Lloyd Quartet led to Jarrett gaining an international reputation, first in Europe then the United States. George Avakian, Jack DeJohnette, Jarrett, and others are interviewed on this formative experience, as well as the group's eventual dissolution due to Lloyd allegedly keeping large chunks of the group's touring profits to himself (not to mention a musical decline on the part of Lloyd, whose descent into hippie mysticism may have contributed). Playing with Miles Davis, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, certainly aided in young Jarrett's musical ability by immersing him in all the advanced strains of 1960s jazz, too. 

Most of my favorite recordings of Keith Jarrett consist of his American Quartet and the Standards Trio with DeJohnette and Gary Peacock. However, Ian Carr seems to hold Jarrett's European quartet in higher esteem. Although I am familiar with ECM, Manfred Eicher, and Jan Garbarek, I was never too immersed in ECM jazz. Indeed, much of Jarrett's catalog with that LP seemed to be a little lifeless compared to his American quartet with Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman, and Paul Motian. Nevertheless, Carr's biography has persuaded me to investigate the Belonging group's recordings, especially when they performed compositions such as "Windup," which demonstrates Jarrett's affinity for folk and ethnic music. 

In fact, much of what I enjoyed about Jarrett's eclectic tastes in the past was his ability to fuse folksy and traditional material with new sounds. In that respect, he is not too far removed from some of the avant-garde jazz legends, such as Coleman or Ayler. As far as his solo piano performances or classical adventures, I am not too convinced. Spirits may be interesting as an example of Jarrett's return to the 'roots' of music, but fundamentally, Jarrett is at his best when performing in jazz trio or quartet contexts. His interpretation of standards is highly individualized yet respectful of the tradition. Whether or not one agrees with Carr about Jarrett's status as the most influential jazz pianist of modern jazz, he is undoubtedly one of the more creative and recognizable musicians in the field.

One hopes for a subsequent study of Jarrett's life and music that is more objective to complement this one, which at least provides an overview of Jarrett's life and career. Jarrett's "state of grace" while improvising is undeniably worth reading about here, particularly in terms of how he defined it and was shaped by the moral values instilled by his parents. Yet, one cannot help but yearn for more critical perspectives on the eventual fall of the American quartet, the thoughts of Motian, Haden, and Redman. Or, perhaps, how mysticism and New Age thought inflicted the jazz world, not that Jarrett ever became a spiritualist of the sort Horace Silver was.