Keith Jarrett

Pianist Keith Jarrett was a prodigy from an early age. Born in Pennsylvania, he began playing piano at age two, appeared in a TV talent program at three, and gave a classical recital at five. He studied music through his teens, rejecting an offer to work in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and instead attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After moving to New York and playing club dates, he was recruited by drummer Art Blakey to join the Jazz Messengers, making his recorded debut on the 1966 live album Buttercorn Lady; future solo star Chuck Mangione was also in that lineup. Jarrett than joined saxophonist Charles Lloyd in a seminal quartet with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Cecil McBee; together they made the album Forest Flower which saw crossover success among the hippie audience in 1968. Hippie culture was also an influence on Jarrett's early solo release, Restoration Ruin, a Dylanesque folk-rock album unlike anything else in his catalogue. In another about-face he then joined up with Miles Davis, who had recently made Bitches Brew and was headed into his most extreme electric phase. His 1970 stint with Davis was captured on several live albums, which feature Jarrett's keyboard interplay with the young Chick Corea. The electric direction would continue on Jarrett's early '70s albums, with notable contributors including Dewey Redman (sax), Airto Moriera (percussion) and Charlie Haden (bass). By the mid-70s Jarrett was leading two separate quartets, one European and one American, drawing from classical and folk sources along with post-bop and free jazz. After his brief fusion period, he decided he was opposed to playing electric instruments. A turning point in Jarrett's career was the late-1971 release of Facing You, his first solo piano album for the fledgling ECM label. His complex, lyrical improvisations (often accompanied by spontaneous vocalizations) would become his trademark, and an influence on the New Age genre. 1975's entirely improvised double album The Koln Concert sold 3.5 million copies and became the best-selling solo piano album in history; a Japanese tour the following year was released as a 10-LP set, Sun Bear Concerts. His improvised shows continued to be a popular and critical success, captured on a further string of live albums. In 1983 he formed a new trio with DeJohnette on drums and bassist Gary Peacock; they recorded extensively and divided their repertoire between free improvisations and arrangements of standards. During 1988 he returned to classical music with an album of Bach pieces, launching an ongoing series of classical recordings. Despite a late-'90s break from performing caused by chronic fatigue syndrome, Jarrett continued to work prolifically as a soloist and bandleader. In 2015 two simultaneous albums, the solo jazz Creation and a classical album of Bartok and Barber pieces, were released to commemorate his 70th birthday.